Legacy of Koopa
by Vincent M. Pierce
Summary: This story is the sequel to The Conquering Koopa and continues the adventure of Alexander in the Mushroom Kingdom. -I would advise you to read The Conquering Koopa first if you haven't-
1. Chapter I

My senses slowly began to ignite themselves within my mind and I felt myself return to life, the sensation was jarring and disorienting, where was I, what had happened, how had I gotten where I was? The oddest sensation was the weightlessness I felt as I seemed to float in a void of nothingness and as I slowly opened my eyes to see nothing, or to be more precise a lot of white nothing. My mind raced as it tried to wrap itself around the situation I had found myself in, there was nothing and yet it felt as though everything was just beyond the edge of my sight, there as more to this place than what I could see. The most confusing aspect was being suspended by some unseen force and the fact that no matter where I turned it seemed I was upright, there was absolutely no directional orientation in this place, no sense of distance or time, just white in every direction. After a few minutes it really began to tax my mind having no input to function on beyond my own thoughts, thoughts that mostly consisted of having to get home to find out if Wendy was hurt or not, or if there was even a Mushroom Kingdom left to come back to considering Ludwig's warning just before… before… waking up here.

The question at hand was how was I going to get out of a place that seemed to have no beginning and no end, there was nothing to use as a point of reference for was I was, where I was going, or where I needed to… be. As I floated there thinking about my situation I noticed something in the distance, a green dot from what I could tell and as I continued to watch it occurred to me what I was looking at was getting steadily closer… no… I was moving! It took a moment for me to feel the movement of my body but I was not only moving but I was picking up a lot of speed. In a matter of seconds the object I was moving towards came into focus and I could see a large field of lush green grass dotted with red capped mushrooms dotted with white speckles, it was the Mushroom Kingdom I was headed back… oh shit… I was headed back alright and it seemed I was really moving too. Before I could even brace myself I exited my original location and found myself flying a good fifty feet above the ground in an arc that was actually moving slightly higher, apparently I had been ejected from where ever I had been like a cannonball and it occurred to me that when I hit the ground I was likely going to end up in traction from the force of impact.

Despite the impending contact with the ground I watched the landscape below me pass and noticed it was actually a rather lovely scene, the field itself was dotted with a variety of red, yellow, blue, and white flowers and the tree limbs were filled with full green leaves that seemed to sway in the breeze. When my soaring eagle impression began to come to end as the ground began to rise up with increasing speed I crossed my arms, braced for impact… and then I landed. The moment I touched down my entire world was thrown into a rapid spin as I began to tumble across the ground with such a velocity that I actually became slightly airborne several times and began to understand what it felt like to be a stone that was skipped across a pond. The brief glimpse of an approaching tree line was the only thing I was able to see before my landing came to a sudden stop against a tree trunk with a loud THUD and a flash of white as the side of my face slammed into the bark. My body slowly crumpled to the ground and I just laid waiting for the pain to sink in so I could at least get an idea what parts of my body had been annihilated by the impact.

For several moment I just waited, then when I didn't feel the onset of the considerable pain I had been expecting I carefully opened my eyes, but before I moved I very carefully flexed my muscles a few times to see what response I would get and to my surprise everything still seemed fine. No pain, no feeling of broken or shattered bones, as I sat up I looked at myself carefully and to my amazement there wasn't even a bruise on my body, there wasn't- My mind froze in mid-thought as I looked at the tree in front of me, there in the trunk of the tree were impact stresses so deep in the bark and wood that you could make out the impression of a torso and the faint outline of both arms and legs, it was then I realized by looking at that image that the impact was so intense, so severe, that by all rights I should be dead, no human could survive an impact of that magnitude. So why was I still alive, and for that matter not even injured in the slightest. I had just hit a tree so hard that it should have killed me and yet here I sat no worse for the wear… what was going on?

Well I wasn't going to find out by just sitting here gawking at a tree and scratching my head, the first order of business was to figure out exactly where I was. I had gotten so wrapped up in the war that had just finished that I hadn't really had the time to learn the lay of the land, but from what I could tell I was likely somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom or in simpler terms the heart of enemy territory. The main thing on my mind at the moment was getting the hell out of here and back to the Dark Lands before running into a pair of individuals I really wasn't in the mood to deal with, the problem was that similar to my previous location I had no idea where I was. The only things I could see at the moment was the tree line in front of me and the field behind me with a road some distance behind me, all of which stretch off into the distance in either direction with no end in sight so I decided it best to walk on the inner edge of the forest so I could conceal myself and keep an eye out for anyone I might be able to extract information from.

For the better part of an hour I walked along under the shade of the trees without noticing anything worth mentioning until I finally heard the sound of laughter in the distance and caught sight of a small group of people in the distance. They seemed to be situated in the field next to a small horse drawn wagon and as I drew closer I could see it was a toad family having a picnic… perfect. I decided to use a rather direct approach, but with a tactic that would be completely unexpected and so I walked out of the trees and moved towards the family in plain sight without any attempt to hide myself or conceal my presence. The father and child had their backs turned to me, but the mother who was facing them caught sight of my fairly quickly and let out a small gasp causing the others turn and face me. Their reaction was exactly what I had hoped for and as the child clung to the mother I stopped a few feet away from them.

"Good day citizens, it seems I've managed to lose my way would you happen to know in which direction the Dark Lands are?"

For a moment it seemed like they were waiting for me to attack but when I didn't the father pointed behind me.

"A-About twenty miles that way."

Without another word I turned on my heel and walked back into the trees. Using an unorthodox approach such as being polite when someone expects you to attack is one of the many methods of psychological warfare and that little episode should definitely leave them wondering what the hell I was up to. The other reason behind what I had just done was that if I had tried to use intimidation techniques of fear tactics they'd likely go running off and tell the first person they met and before long I'd have the brothers hunting me down and it's not a good idea to engage such a dangerous enemy when you don't even know exactly where you are, not only does it give them the home field advantage but it also leaves you open to a whole host of unfriendly surprises you may not be aware of until it's too late. The fact my presence in the Mushroom Kingdom alone was now known was something that hastened my pace through the woods.

I could see in a way why Bowser wanted to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, it was lush, green, and fertile in comparison to the volcanic ash of the Dark Lands. From what I had seen of it during the Stinit War I hadn't seen any agricultural plantation but then I doubt the land could have supported it. It was actually quite peaceful in the woods, a gentle breeze blew through the trees rustling the leaves as I made my way though the paths that were dappled with small streams of light were the sun had broken through the canopy overhead. I'm not sure what brought my attention from my thoughts the woods around me but I suddenly noticed that we woods weren't just peaceful, they were completely devoid of all the noises one would normally find here, no birds, no animals rummaging through the underbrush, there was nothing at all. The more I thought about it the more it began to unnerve me as the sound, or lack thereof, was unnatural.

By midday, which I determined by the position of the sun, the trees had fallen away leading into another field and though I couldn't see the Dark Lands themselves I could see the thick cloud cover in the distance that was the ever presence sign of the Koopa domain, well that and the turtles off to my left that seemed to be constructing something that involved digging up a lot of dirt. I was about to continue on my way when I noticed that the turtles who were working had stopped what they were doing and seemed to be rather intent on staring a hole through me, they were looking at me with the most wide eyed expression I had ever seen and so I decided it best to see what all the gawking was about and made my way towards them.

"So is there any reason you're trying to stare a hole through me or is it just my dashing good looks that have you confounded?"

"Y-You're back." One of them said.

"Well of course I'm back, what kind of idiotic comment is that?"

"He's back." Another repeated.

"Okay this conversation isn't going to go very far if you all stand there acting like parrots, what the hell are you talking about? For that matter what are you doing, digging a mass grave for Stinit corpses?"

"Stinit corpses? Why would be digging graves for them?"

"Oh gee I don't know because we just got through wasting a whole army of them? We can't just leave them to get ripe in the sun."

I could tell by the expressions on their faces that there was something that was either confusing them or something that I was missing but I couldn't tell what, more than anything they seemed confused by what I was talking about.

"Alright what's going on? Out with it."

There was a long pause before the lead turtle swallowed hard and spoke, "I don't know how to tell you this sir but… the Stinit War, the war was almost six years ago."

There are no words to describe the sensation that suddenly took hold of me except to say that I went cold as my knees gave out and I stumbled backwards onto the ground.

"Six years?! That's impossible, how?! I was just in the lab with Ludwig, we were trying to use a machine to seal the Stinits into their own dimension no more than a few hours ago."

"I know, I was one of the mechanics assigned to building the machine," the lead turtle said, "I promise you sir I'm not making this up, what reason would I have to say something like that if it weren't true. If I'm not being too forward where have you been?"

"Wha- I- but- I don't know, I swear to god I don't know I have no memory for almost six years of my life- oh god, Wendy, what about Wendy?" I asked looked over.

"Bowser and most of the remaining Koopa Troops scoured the land looking for you for more than a year before they finally declared you dead, Wendy, she kept looking, she kept searching for you for three years sir."

As I sat there trying to wrap my mind around the fact that in what seemed to be a few hours close to six years had gone by, six years I had no memories of one of the other turtles learned over and whispered something to the one in front.

"What, what is it?" I asked.

"I don't think it's my place to say, you need to talk to Wendy, not just to let her know you've returned but there have been… changes, since you disappeared, changes you're responsible for."

With my mind still in a tailspin I thanked the turtle who had told everything and continued to make my way towards the Dark Lands trying my best to figure out how I was going to deal with things when word reached Koopa Castle that after disappearing for almost six years I had just shown up like nothing had happened. I don't even remember much of the walk to the border of the kingdom but it seems word hadn't travelled, it had warped, I wasn't even a quarter mile back on home soil before I could see what looked almost like an entire division of the Koopa Military was on an intercept course for me. As they came closer I could see Bowser was leading them and the army was actually his personal guard that accompanied him out of the castle most of the time.

I really didn't have any idea what to say so when we were less than two length away from one another I just stared at Bowser with a blank expression on my face and to my surprise he didn't seem angry, in fact his expression was almost as blank as mine save for a hint of curiosity and confusion. After about a minute of sizing one another up he was the first to speak.

"Well?" he asked.

"I swear to god I don't know."

Although it took several minutes and a number to interruptions with Bowser asking a few questions of his own, I finally explained my situation and I could tell that he was having trouble believing me but without any other explanation, and the fact this was imaginative even for a writer he knew I was being straight with him. He turned to leave for the castle again when I risked asking a rather sensitive question.

"Is Wendy alright?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" he said, never slowing down.

As the Koopa Guard began to leave with Bowser and their ranks began to thin as they turned and reformed I finally saw Wendy, she had been standing almost directly behind Bowser who was more than big enough to block my view of her and what I saw… what I saw wasn't something I was anywhere close to prepared for. At the close of the Stinit War when I had first met Wendy she a little more than a head shorter than me with a cute but slightly chubby figure, now… The koopa standing in front of my was almost the same height, her figure had shaped up quite curvaceously, and she had grown into at least a C-cup. Time seemed to freeze when our eyes met and more than anything I was afraid that she would be angry and want nothing to do with me, but when I looked closer I could see she was as scared as I was.

"You really don't have any memory of the last six years do you?"

"No, what I told your father was true in my mind the Stinit War ended hours ago, not years. I swear to you I'm telling you the truth why would I lie?"

"Because you got bored, grew tired of being with me?"

"No, never, six years may have gone by but my feelings haven't changed Wendy, I still love you as much now as I did then. When I got back coming here to see if you were alright was my first thought."

Without saying another word we walked to one another, embraced, and I held Wendy as close as I could relieved that she still wanted me, my worst fear since learning so much time had passed was that she had moved on and found someone else.

"Alex." Wendy said.

"Yes love?"

"Do you remember when I told you I had something important to tell you?"

"Now that you mention it I do, what was it?"

Pulling away from me slightly she looked at me and it seemed as though she was still worried about something, but what I had no idea. She finally let go of me and turned to a small group of soldiers I could only guess were her personal guard who had stayed behind and bent down on one knee.

"You can come out now, come on Clawdia."

The soldiers parted and when they did I froze, rooted to the ground where I stood. There in the crowd of soldiers was a child, but unlike anything I, or likely anyone else, had ever seen. Her body was covered in the telltale orange Koopa scales with three fingers and four toes that ended in claws but what I couldn't look away from, what I almost couldn't believe, was her face, she had a human face and my god her hair… her long curly hair was… was… white!

"Oh my god," which seemed to be an increasingly used phrase recently, "Wendy is she…"

The little girl who was staring at me as much as I was her walked up next to Wendy with her deep blue eyes still fixed on mine and Wendy turned to face me with one arm around the child.

"Alex I want you to meet Clawdia Wendy Koopa… your daughter."

The six year dilemma that had perplexed me until now wasn't even a factor anymore as I stared at the little girl in front of my trying to figure out what to say, what to do, how to react, my entire world had just been turned on its ear and I didn't even have the slightest idea of how to respond, had this been a cartoon this would have been the point where my jaw hit the ground with a loud metallic clang. I was doing my best to put together some sort of response to this when Clawdia opened her mouth and said everything for me.

"Daddy?"

To hear a child call me daddy almost brought me to tears and kneeling down in front of her I nodded gently.

"Yeah it's me," I almost choked out, "it's daddy baby girl."

"Where did you go daddy?"

"I wish I knew honey I honestly do but I can't remember."

"Then you're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"Cause you left, I thought you left cause I did something to make you mad."

"Clawdia Wendy Koopa I don't ever want to hear you say that again. I didn't leave because I wanted to I was forced to and it just took me a long time to get back. I didn't even know Wendy was pregnant at the time so there is no way, NO WAY, you could have done anything to make me mad. For that matter even if you do make me mad there's nothing you could ever do to make me leave you got that?"

"So you're my daddy for ever and ever?"

"For ever and ever."

"I love you daddy!" she said as she threw her arms around me.


	2. Chapter II

After the rather short reception by Bowser and the absolutely stunning revelation that I was now a father I walked back to the castle with Wendy holding one arm and Clawdia held in the other. For me this was like a dream come true, ever since I was a child living in that damned orphanage all I had ever wanted in life was to have a family to call my own and now I had it. I was on top of the world and not even those stupid plumbers could bring me down from this high. I was a father, I just kept repeating that in my mind still trying to fully believe what I was telling myself. I was the father of a beautiful little girl and I was finally home where, for possibly the first time in my life I was starting to feel as though I belonged.

"Babe now that I think about it Bowser's greeting was rather abbreviated, is everything alright? I mean he's not like made at me or anything is he?"

"No he's not mad he was in the middle of a war council when he got word of your return, he'll probably grill you some more later on when he has the time."

"War council? Please tell me I didn't leave one war just to leap into the middle of another."

"It's a small war sweety, dad's trying to determine the best target for expanding into the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Oh that kind of war council, well as long as we're not talking mass invasion with an unrelenting army of teeth I suppose I can handle it. Think I should report for duty?"

I couldn't help notice the expression on the faces of those in the castle as I walked through the halls with Wendy holding Clawdia in my arms. The Koopa were gawking, staring, and whispering to one another and I could already hear the rumor mill gearing up in full force about what had happened, where I had been, and so on. I had a nasty feeling that I was going to have to set things straight in a few days before the situation got out of hand I ended up rising from the dead or some shit like that.

"I would, just because you disappeared for six years with no memory of what happened or where you went probably doesn't count as an excuse for missing a war council."

"Heaven forbid."

At the end of the hall where it split in a T formation leading to the living quarters to the right and the main hall of the castle to the left I handed Clawdia to Wendy and gave them both a kiss.

"I'll see you later babe, time to cause some trouble."

When I walked into the war room Bowser was standing on top of the dais with Ludwig to his left and Roy to his right and seeing the two of them after six years was quite a shock. Ludwig who was about my height had grown to be at least a head taller than me and had filled out, he was tall, lean, and had a solid build. Roy on the other hand made Ludwig look small by comparison, he was now every bit as tall and thick as Bowser and for the first time since meeting him I saw him without his sunglasses and understood why he wore them so often. Despite their reptilian nature the Koopa all seemed to have human-like eyes that were varied shades of blue, green, and brown but the irises of Roy's eyes were a bright red and really stood out.

As I approached the dais I nodded to the to Bowser and the other advisors that consisted of a large Goomba Mushroom, and older looking Hammer Brother, and a pair of magi-koopa who all stared at me like I had just walked out of the seventh level of hell and I had a sneaking suspicion that I was going to be explaining my story a lot over the next few day. For the moment I just stood at the table looking down at a tattered and yellowing map of the Mushroom Kingdom deciding to listen to what was going on rather than annoying everyone with numerous questions. Even though I had been here and in the castle before the open magma flows in many of the larger rooms was still something that was hard for me to get used to thus I spent a lot of time sweating… and bathing.

"What about Rogue Port? It's the Kingdom's primary import/export hub and the backbone of their economy, if we were to take it we could secure more resources for ourselves and strangle Peach's economy." The Hammer Brother said.

"Inadvisable, ever since Alex and his little terror spree in the Kingdom years ago the Princess stationed standing armies in all the major cities. We likely could take the city but the toll it would exact on our forces would leave them vulnerable to a counterattack by the brothers. We're looking for maximum return with minimal effort so we can quickly secure our new acquisition."

"What about Goombaria? It's a community of independent Goomba that have a thriving ironworks industry we could make use of that. It would help strengthen our troops and increase our armory stores."

How muchrooms without hands could even forge metal was something I was still wondering about when I pointed to a town on the map, "What about here?"

The others looked at the town I was pointing at and they seemed confused about my decision, "Why would we attack there, it's a farming community." One of the magi-koopa said.

"Exactly, why would we attack there? It's a perfect target a town with a small community, nothing of 'apparent' value but look at the positioning. We're here in the north and this town is on the southern coast with Rogue Port to the west and Peach's Palace to the east. If we were to take this village and claim a stretch of land between here and there we could charge a border crossing tax on merchants moving from Rogue Port to Toad Town and it would literally cut the kingdom in half. Then there's the fact it's an agricultural town, correct me if I'm wrong but there aren't any farming communities here in the Dark Lands so I assume most of our food products are imported?

We could easily secure this town and begin using it to grow our own food, wheat, grain, dairy, fruits, vegetables, while it wouldn't sustain us completely it would cut down on our dependency on foreign imports thus strengthening our economy in the process. There's also the potential of expanding the port here to give us easier access to the southern sea, it could make imports and exports from the south a lot easier, there is a lot of potential there in my opinion."

Again the others fell silent but this time I could see they weren't confused, no this time they were considering what I had just pointed out to them and a few even nodded slightly as though they approved of the plan.

"I agree," Bowser said finally, "this town could be taken easily and offer us tremendous opportunities for expansion and growth, we'll strike there. When the raiding parties return next week we'll prepare for a full scale invasion. Roy, Ludwig, I want you to work with Alexander and draft a plan for the initial strike and counterattack resistance."

"Who will lead the assault father?" Roy asked.

"It was Alexander's idea, he'll lead the attack and you'll act as his first in command unless you have any objections?" Bowser looked to me.

"Only that I gotta wait a week to unleash hell. What kind of resistance are we looking at once Peach gets word we've secured one of her towns?"

"Well as I stated earlier after your little terror spree before the Stinit War the princess commissioned a standing army to help protect the towns against you and the rest of the Koopa Kingdom. The toad soldiers aren't as skilled as our forces because of how young their organization is but still they know enough to cause problems which would allow the brothers to do considerable damage, they're our primary concern." The Hammer Brother said.

"I'll handle them." I responded.

"Really? Last time you faced off against Mario you came back looking like a pot roast that just got barbequed." Roy sneered.

"I said I'll handle it!" I snapped.

"I don't think you've got the brass for it human." Roy leaned forward placing his hands on the table.

"I really don't give a shit what you 'think' lizard, you got a problem with me then let's step outside and settle this. Unless it's escaped that towering intellect of yours I went up against your father for the right to be with Wendy, so if you think I'm afraid of your think again." I replied, placing my hands on the table as well.

"Enough, we're here to plan an invasion not butt chests." Bowser interrupted.

It occurred to me that one of the reasons Bowser's children seemed to look down on me was because I didn't assert myself as much as I should considering where I was and it was about time that changed, Bowser ruled his land by right of arms, for those of you who don't know what that means he's the biggest meanest mother fucker around and as his right hand it was about time I acted like it. After the war council had ended I had barely made it out into the hall before Ludwig fell into step beside me and before he even had a chance to say anything I explained the entire situation about my absence .

"So you don't have the slightest idea where you were all this time?"

"No, not until I work up in that… place. I wasn't even there for very long before playing lawn dart into the kingdom and making my way back here. If I knew anything I would have told you, I have no reason to lie about it."

"I wasn't suggesting that you did, I was just digging for any clues that might explain why you have no memory of the last six years. Is there anything you can remember about this 'place' that you work up?"

"There wasn't much to remember really, it was white everywhere I looked and there was no sense of direction, everywhere I turned seemed like I was facing up I could have been head over heels for all I could tell."

"Any sights, sounds, or smells?"

"No nothing, that was the most unnerving part of the whole thing, there was nothing. By the way, who's Bowser raiding, Peach?"

"No sending raiding parties into the kingdom is too dangerous because of the brothers, at the moment their in Sarasaland raiding Princess Daisy's towns. That was a fairly astute observation you made in the war room though, you're right, the Dark Lands aren't suited for agriculture and we do have to import our food supplies."

"Import from who? With bowser's 'aggressive diplomacy' who would engage in trade with him?"

"Well the Bean-Bean Kingdom for one. Despite the volatile relations we've had in the past we each possess resources the other needs as well as a considerable hatred of Peach and the brothers. We also do trade irregularly with Wario."

"Wario, are you serious? The last time I tried to talk to him he yelled Koopas ain't welcome and tried to blow me up."

"I wouldn't doubt it, I've often said Wario is mentally unstable but as my father has pointed out on more than one occasion he is possessed of a singularly simplistic drive, greed. Show him enough money and he'll quickly forget and personal prejudice he might have for someone or something."

After a few more smaller comments and exchanges we parted ways at an intersection to another hall and I continued through the darkened halls of the castle towards the living quarters, it had been almost six years since I had seen Wendy and though it only seemed like yesterday to me I could imagine how she felt and how eager she was to see me, plus I was eager to see Clawdia some more as the whole 'new dad' sensation hadn't worn off yet. Ignoring the continued gawks and stares I finally made it to the area the Koopa family and VIPs stayed and walked up to Wendy's door knocking gently with my hand and a moment later Wendy answered with a peculiar expression on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"Why the hell are you knocking?"

"Uh… courteousness?"

"Oh for crying out loud Alex we have a daughter together, it's not like you have to knock before entering." With that she jerked me inside and closed the door.

She had point though, I was still adjusting to this new situation that I found myself in and as a result I often fell back into old habits without realizing it, in retrospect it was rather superfluous gesture knocking on her door.

"Old habits babe, where's Clawdia?"

"She's spending time with Lemmy right now why?"

"I wanted to see her," I started to reach for the door handle only to have Wendy grab me and catching me by surprise she quickly threw me off balance and onto the floor, "Wendy is something wrong?"

"You're damn right something's wrong, you know what it's been like for me for the past six years?"

"Wendy I told you I don't know what happened I-"

"That's not what I'm talking about!"

"Okay you're losing me now."

"I haven't been laid in six years dumbass, do you know what that's like? I'm nineteen and I haven't gotten any in six years!"

"Oh well I can see your- whaaaaaaaaaaat?!?! You mean when we were- and I- with you- and got you- you were thirteen?!"

"Yeah what's your point?"

"Isn't that like illegal or something, you know, age of consent and all?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You know, the law that says you gotta be eighteen to get laid or something."

"Why would dad make up a stupid law like that, in the Dark Lands your old enough to get laid when you're old enough to get horny."

With that Wendy reached down with one hand and picked me up by the collar of my shirt and slammed me into the wall, apparently even Koopa women were stronger than an average human.

"Now… less talking, more doing." She said.

Keeping with my desire to present a tougher image I grabbed her arm and pulled it away from my shirt. She responded by growling and slashing me across the face with the claws of her free hand and without thinking about it I backhanded her hard enough to knock her to the floor. For a moment she held her cheek and looked at me with a surprised expression on her face and I wasn't sure how to react. "Well it's about damn time you grew a set." She said with a growl before leaping forward and power tackling me.

Although I'm not exactly sure how long my 'reunion' with Wendy lasted I do know that we managed to break four bed slates, one of the legs on the frame, and overturn pretty much everything in the room. Apparently six years can cause someone a lot of frustration, and this turned out to be the roughest sex I've ever had. Although a lot of people say when you're with someone you care for that it's making love this wasn't, it wasn't to say I don't love Wendy because I do but this was simply clawing, biting, stress reliving sex… I actually had puncture marks where she had bitten me.

"Wendy?"

"Yeah hun?"

"What do you want out of life, I mean what do you wanna do, you know goals and all that."

"I don't know really, I've never thought about it why?"

"Because it occurred to me that I don't actually know a lot about you. What's your favorite food, favorite color, what do you do for fun, when's your birthday, where do you see yourself in twenty years, and for that matter who does the O in your name stand for?"

"Beef jerky, pink, terrorize toads, September 8th, and I really haven't thought that far ahead."

"And the O, what's that for?"

With a slight grimace on her face she leaned over and whispered her middle name into my ear before pointing a claw in my face, "And if you ever repeat that to anyone outside the family I'll kick your ass myself. Now how about you?"

"Pepperoni pizza, video games, June 4th, I'm re-evaluating my long term goals, and Franklin."

"Alexander Franklin Magus, a strong name, did your father give it to you?"

"From what he told me- DAD! Oh my god I was thinking about Clawdia so much I didn't even-"

"Alex calm down he's fine."

"Where is he?"

"Here in the castle somewhere I think."

"But before I disappeared he agreed to stay with Peach to-"

"Oh for fuck's sake Alex you really think I was just going to leave him with that blond bitch? About a week after the Stinit War ended I sent and extraction team into the Kingdom to get him, he's been here ever since."

"So how badly have you brother's terrorized him?"

"They haven't believe it or not."

"They actually like him?"

"Well I wouldn't go that far, but since he gets along with Ludwig so well the others mostly just leave him be, you know birds of a feather and all that. Get those two in the same room and it's all equations and formulas and I can't understand a damn thing they're talking about."

"Is there a library in the castle?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because if I'm going to live and work here then I think it's time I learned about the Mushroom Kingdom, the Dark Lands, and other things I should know."

"Sure, get dressed and I'll show you."


	3. Chapter III

When Wendy told me there was a library in the castle I thought there might be a room or two with some books and a librarian or two so when I walked into the massive underground chamber that had to have been at least four football fields squared filled from floor to ceiling with what had to have been at least fifty thousand or more books I was stunned to say the least. Rolling ladders provided access to the shelves that were out of reach and from the looks of it half the personnel in the castle were here reading something. Unlike the rest of the castle the library was well lit and there were koopas of all shapes and sizes moving about either carrying books or looking for the right one and the shelves that were built into the walls were dwarfed in number by those that stood at least two stories high in the room itself and spread out in every direction for almost as far as the eye could see save for a few spaced out areas with tables and chairs that were provided for reading.

"Good lord Wendy, this is the library?"

"Well of course, you think my father would have anything less? Besides he always says a well educated army is less inclined to make stupid mistakes, well that and you have to pass a written test to become an officer in the army."

"Good days Princess Koopa, Lord Magnus, is there anything I can help you find?"

I was so busy gawking at the sheer size of the library I didn't notice the elderly looking Magikoopa approaching. Unlike the others I had seen in the war council this koopa looked absolutely ancient, his skin hung over his face in large wrinkles that almost hid his eyes and he walked with a cane that helped to keep him upright. At a glance I'd say that he had retired from active service and become a librarian since most magic users were known book worms.

"Uh yeah where's your historical section?"

"Third row shelves D6 though P47, any particular history you're interested in or are you just browsing?"

"Recent history pertaining to about the last century for the Dark Lands and the Mushroom Kingdom and while I'm thinking about it do you have a schematic for the pipe system, I'm sick of getting lost."

"Recent history would be third row shelves H2 though J12 and I can have one of my assistants bring you a pipe schematic if you like."

"That would be great," I stopped and looked at his name tag, "Petrov." And with a nod Wendy and I moved in the direction indicated.

After a short walk I arrived at shelf H2 and began walking down the aisle of neatly arranged book looking at the various titles on the binding.

"Is there anything in particular you're looking for hun?"

"For the moment the history of the Dark lands, I'd like to know about how the kingdom was formed, who formed it, how the war with the Mushroom Kingdom started, things like that."

Taking a moment to scan the books Wendy reached out and took three rather old looking books and held them out to me.

"Here you go Hergal's complete history of the Koopa Kingdom, well complete until his death about three years ago."

"This should be interesting, while I am curious to know more about the Dark Lands I hope Hergal's view was too slanted."

"It's actually not a skewed record of history, Hergal didn't include any personal views or opinions in his writings he only presented the facts and let the reader form their own opinion."

"Talk about a diamond in the rough, most histories are written from the personal view of the author and is rarely unbiased but I'm surprised, your father strikes me as the type who wouldn't be too keen on a view that's not pro-koopa."

"Hergal's works are considered the best historical records of the Dark Lands of modern times and even though they're not pro-koopa father tolerates them because they're not pro-toad either. Father allows freedom of the press so long as it's not deemed as malicious in nature or an attack on his sovereignty."

Once I had settled down in one of the reading areas and Wendy had found a book of her own to occupy herself while I dove into the history of the Dark Lands. More than seven hundred years ago the Koopa were a nomadic people with no land to call their own and no central government making their homes either in the Mushroom Kingdom or in lands that were once called the borders lands before the toad monarchy had expanded to its modern borders. As a nomadic people they came in every almost every profession one could imagine from scholar, to farmer, and even bandit, often roaming the land rarely settling in any one place for long periods of time.

For centuries this type of transient movement was tolerated by the Toad Monarchy without any real concern until the appearance of an individual known as Sempto Gara who was a Hammer Brother by race and an exceptionally skilled brigand by trade who made a living looting and plundering small towns and travelling caravans with the help of what came to be known as Gara's Guerillas that in time became the most prominent criminal organization of the ancient kingdom. They were so efficient and ruthless in their work that they eventually became the prime target of the toad monarchy who wanted them brought to justice, dead or alive.

For almost two decades the cat and mouse game continued between Gara and the monarchy but things didn't begin to truly shift until the appearance of a toad politician by the name of Thalo who for years had been advocating a closed border approach to dealing with the koopa people and after almost twenty years of enduring raids and attacks by Gara's Guerilla's people began listening to his words. Before long things began to spiral out of control and the koopa people soon found themselves being chased out of the Mushroom Kingdom on the heels to Thalo's propaganda machine but as t seems chasing them out of the Mushroom kingdom wasn't enough. Using the years of attacks and raids by Gara and his bandits the chase continued until most of the koopa people found themselves chased into what is now known as the Dark Lands.

Scattered, disorganized and scared by what was happening to them the koopa began to panic and began not only fighting with the mushroom people but also among themselves as their resources began to dwindle and it was then that a direct ancestor of Bowser appeared by the name of Kaizer Koopa appeared and through charm, charisma, and outright crushing anyone who opposed him he soon rallied the koopa people under a single banner and from there formed the Koopa Kingdom and turned many of his people in a single cohesive fighting machine to push back against the mushroom people and push them out of their newly formed borders. From what Hergal wrote Kaizer was an incredibly ruthless tyrant that ruled his people with an iron fist and while many complained about how oppressive he was they accepted his rule because he protected and provided for them.

For several generations after Kaizer the rule of the House of Koopa changed with each ruler with some being ruthless while others allowed the people more freedoms but the hostilities between the mushroom and koopa people continued until an uncharacteristically diplomatic Koopa by the name of Antaus was able to broker a peace that lasted for centuries. The history of the land was interesting and quickly reading through several chapters I finally came to one with a title that really caught my attention, 'The House of Bowser Koopa' this chapter focused on Bowser and his life.

Bowser's father Morton, for whom his son Morton Jr. was named, it seemed was more of a con artist than a ruler and often spent most of his time trying to con various kingdoms and organizations out of large sums of money with varying degrees of success. Bowser who had shown a talent for ruthlessness at an early age eventually lead a coup against his father and with the support of the military his exiled his father as well as his brother and sister who had voiced opposition to what he had done.

"Wendy," I said looking over at her, "you never told me you had an aunt and uncle."

"I don't really think about them much, father banished them from Mushroom World before I was born I've never met them."

Returning to the book I read on and learned that the war between the kingdoms was reignited when Bowser massed his army and invaded the Mushroom Kingdom with such speed and brutality that the toad army was quickly decimated and that he was on the verge of conquering everything before a young pair of plumbers appeared and single handedly derailed his entire campaign forcing him to retreat back into the Dark Lands, apparently in the process of conquering the land Bowser had spread his army so thin that it allowed the brothers to pick most of them off in small group… Rome anyone?

"Wendy what is the actual name for your species? I've noticed that the term Koopa is used to refer to the citizens of the Dark Lands in a generic sense but I've never seen any other reference used other than Koopa."

"That is our species name, Koopa is attached to several of the names of other species such as Koopa Turtles but their true species name is just Turtle. If you were to look up our official name we would be the only species in Mushroom World called Koopa."

"Alexander?" a voice said.

The sound of my name brought me out of my reading and I looked up to see my father Mortimer standing next to me and I could see an expression in his eyes similar to Wendy's when she saw me again and pushing my chair back to stand up I walked over to him giving him a large hug and slapping him on the back in the process.

"Dad I knew you'd find me when you heard I was back how have you been?" I said holding him by the shoulders.

"I'm doing wonderful now that you're back where-"

"Whoa hold on, have a seat before I go into this for the millionth time, told this one so many times I'm beginning to remember how I say it line for line." And so I laid everything out on the line for Mortimer as I had told everyone else.

"No memory for the last six years, that is odd indeed, are you alright?"

"Right as rain, in fact I feel better than ever really, so what do you think of being a grandfather huh?"

"I love it, Clawdia is a real handful, or mouthful I should say."

"Mouthful?"

"She's a biter when she gets mad."

"Gee I wonder where she got that from." I said looking over at Wendy who just quirked a brow at me.

"I should be asking you how you feel about being a father."

"I love it, absolutely love it, speaking of which here in a little bit I need to go find Clawdia, I think it's time I got to know my daughter. The only reason I'm not with her now is because of my upcoming… uh… work, can't really say more than that."

"What are you reading anyway?"

"The history of the Dark Lands, figured since I have a little free time I'd polish up on history and so on, considering my job I think it's best I learn everything I can about the Mushroom Kingdom and the greater Mushroom World."

Over the next few days I not only spent a lot of time learning about the history of the Mushroom Kingdom I also spent as much time as I could with Clawdia and Wendy and found my daughter to be quite a handful, when she wasn't getting into, trying to eat, or otherwise damaging something, she spent most of her time playing lengthy rounds of 'Daddy what's that? Daddy what's that? Daddy what's that?'. Under normal circumstances I would have dropkicked someone into next year after repeating the question for the fourth time but in the case of Clawdia I even amazed myself with the level of patients I showed in dealing with her. Where I normally would have gotten absolutely furious with someone else over something I found that every time Clawdia got into trouble and I started to get angry that a batting of her eyelashes followed by a soulful stare from her big blue eyes made the anger just melt away and I usually ended up holding and hugging her… she cheated with cuteness.

I had just finished breakfast with Wendy and the rest of the Koopa Clan in the dining hall and I was actually starting to get used to the fact most of Bowser's kids swore like sailors when a messenger walked into the room and handed a letter to both Bowser and I before leaving without so much as an explanation as to where they came from. There letter was sealed in a plain white envelope with the seal of the Mushroom Kingdom printed on the front and with a matching wax seal on the back.

"Who the hell would be writing me from the Mushroom Kingdom?" I asked hold out the letter.

Several of the Bowser's kids were crowded around him on either side looking at the letter he had already opened and several of then were quite wide eyed with surprise when Morton came running over to me, "Quick open it open it!" Still not sure what was going on I opened the envelope and taking the letter out I unfolded it.

Issued by the Mushroom Kingdom Sports Committee

Princess Peach, Sitting Chairwoman

To: Lord Alexander Franklin Magnus

You are hereby invited to participate in the Mushroom Kingdom Invitational Racing Tournament on the dates of September 3rd and 4th at the Mushroom National Speedway and may bring up to two guests with you.

Hope to see you there,

Mushroom Kingdom Sports Committee

"You have got to be fucking kidding me, do they really think we'd fall for something like this? We're at a state of constant war with the Mushroom Kingdom and they invite us to a sporting event?"

"Aw come on man! He's been back three days and gets an invite? I've been on the waiting list for four years!" Roy complained.

With everyone was clamoring around Bowser and I it was impossible to get a straight answer out of people so I looked over at Wendy for an explanation.

"It's real Alex, the Mushroom Races, Olympics, and other games are considered politically neutral, everyone from around Mushroom World attends and participates."

"Yeah but why me?"

"Well according to the sports committee the ruler of each kingdom is automatically issued an invitation to participate and then an equal number of invitations are determined by a random lot selection, I guess when they heard you were back they added your name."

"Does Bowser attend these things?"

"Yes Bowser does, I've attended each year the games have taken place and this year will be no exception." He said.

"We're going to attend a sporting event this weekend and invade the town of Lilliola Tuesday?"

"Why not, beating them at the Mushroom cup will just add insult to injury when we take the town from them, will you attend Alex?"

"Uh sure thing boss, why not?"

After breakfast had concluded and we were filtering out of the dining hall I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact I was going to attend a sporting event in the spirit of competition a few days for invading the Mushroom Kingdom and laying siege to one of their towns. Still looking at the invitation as I walked down the hall something else peaked my curiosity.

"Lord Magnus, since when did I have a title of any sort?" I asked Wendy.

"After you disappeared and the search parties that tried to find you finally disbanded you were declared legally dead and given the title of Lord as a honorary title for your actions during the war."

"Good thing I'm not dead after all."


	4. Chapter IV

The Mushroom National Speedway was not quite what I had imagined, when I first got the invitation to participate in this event I thought I'd end up racing around some little track with a few other racers in some sort of home grown, throw together event… I couldn't have been more wrong. The speedway was a massive race track of black top pavement laid over a field of green grass, the stands that tapered upward above a ten foot dividing wall were filled to absolute capacity by both toad and koopa people willing sitting side by side and there were even what Wendy called Lakitu hovering around on small clouds with video cameras that broadcast to banks of monitors showing multiple sections of the track. The sheer scope and magnitude of this multi-kingdom sporting event was something that really took me aback as I stood there in the entrance just gawking at everything around me.

"Oh god, not them." I heard Wendy say.

"What, who is it?!" I said, getting ready to drop into a battle stance.

As I geared up for a fight I was suddenly blinded by the brilliant light of a camera flash and suddenly found at least a dozen microphones shoved in my face as reporters from both the Mushroom and Koopa Kingdoms descended on us like a pack of vultures and I was being bombarded by so many questions I couldn't make out what they were saying. Wendy was trying to fend off several reporters trying to get pictures of Clawdia who in turn had her face buried in her mother's shoulder trying to hide.

"Great, the fuckin' paparazzi." Time to see if they were as aggressive here as they were on Earth. With a wide arc I swung my arm down at the reporters intentionally missing but making my point none-the-less, "Back off you vultures I'm not going to say it again!" and it appears my gesture worked as they all quickly backed away looking at me in surprise. I was about to cut loose with a series of 'colorful metaphors' when Wendy leaned over and whispered something to me.

"Alex maybe you should use this opportunity to get the word out about your return, you did mention something about that right?" Wendy said.

My first response was to quirk a brow slightly at the idea as I had always had an intense distaste for the media and trusted reporters about as far as I could throw them but Wendy also had a point. Rumors of my return had to be flying in every quarter of the kingdom by now and a statement would set the record straight about a lot of things. In light of that fact I decided it best to take her advice and make a statement to the press so I put on my best diplomatic face as I approach the crowd of reporters.

"Sorry about that last outburst ladies and gentleman you caught me by surprise, now I'm sure you have questions you would like to ask and as I have some time to spare by all means ask away."

Once again the reporters exploded into a flurry of questions and microphone pointing as people tried to talk over one another and when I pointed to one of the toad reports the others quieted down.

"Lord Magnus the biggest question in the minds of the Mushroom Kingdom Daily readers is where have you been for the past six years?"

"I would tell you if I could but due to matters of Koopa national security I'm not at liberty at this time to divulge the details of my… absence."

"What about the rumors you disappeared under suspicious circumstances, rumors have been circulating that shortly after you disappeared King Koopa sent out search parties to find you." Another toad asked as I pointed to her.

"They're just that, rumors. Any parties sent out around the time of my absence from the public eye were just a matter of coincidence and entirely unrelated."

"Is it true that you're the father of Clawdia Koopa?" a turtle asked.

"Look at our hair shouldn't that answer be fairly obvious? Yes I am the father of Clawdia Wendy Koopa."

"Fashion experts would like to know, do you bleach your hair to make it white?"

"No, I was born this way my hair's been white since birth. I'm missing the gene for hair color hence it's not a matter of bleaching but the fact that I have no hair color at all, if you'll notice my eyebrows are white too."

"What about the rumors that you were given the title of Lord as an honor after you were declared dead following your disappearance?"

"As I said earlier I didn't disappear, it was an absence that King Koopa was fully aware of and the rumors of my death are obviously exaggerated. The title of Lord was bestowed to me for services rendered to his majesty King Koopa during the Stinit War among other things."

During this little interview I noticed that Peach and the brothers had taken quite and interest in what I was saying to the press and I also noticed that my face was being broadcast to several billboard sized screens around the arena by a number of the Lakitu cameramen, and while I was enjoying the spotlight I wanted to take Wendy and Clawdia and find out where we would be staying for the event so I pointed to one last koopa reporter and indicated this would be the last question I would accept for now.

"Lord Magnus, is there anything you would like to say to the public now that you've returned?"

Seeing my face on the billboards and noticing I had the undivided attention of my three worst enemies I turned slightly to face them and narrowed my eyes as a sadistic smile crept across my face. To make sure this message was broadcast loud and clear I took one of the microphones from a reporter and turned it up full blast.

"As a matter of fact there is something I would like to say. Koopa of the Dark Lands, Toads of the Mushroom Kingdom, Lord Alexander Franklin Magnus has returned and I am here to stay!"

Judging from the reaction on their faces I knew that the subtle double message directed at them came through loud and clear, it was as much a pronouncement to the public as it was a threat to them and they knew it.

"Hey, where do I register for this little shindig anyway?" I asked one of the reporters, and almost in unison they all pointed to a booth some distance off against the far right wall where Princess Peach was sitting.

I quickly pushed my way through the small crowd with Wendy as the reporters seemed to compare notes, something I found to be odd considering their profession, and made my way over to the booth by which time the brothers had already wandered off somewhere else in the complex. Covered with a large white canopy and a red mushroom symbol encircled by the words Mushroom Kingdom Sports Committee on the front there were officials from what appeared to be several kingdoms seated inside with Princess Peach at the forefront of the group, I was about to say something when I heard a rather guttural growl and looking over at Wendy I could see a look directed at Peach that would have turned her to ash if looks could have killed.

"Good afternoon Lord Magnus, you're here to register for the race?" Peach asked with a smile.

This was the first time I had ever actually had the chance to get close to the Princess under circumstances that didn't threaten to devolve into some sort of physical confrontation and when I took the time to actually look at her in such a light she actually was remarkably beautiful and finding myself at a loss for words I also quickly found a clawed hand slugging me in the back of the head which elicited snickers from several of the officials.

"Yes he's here to register for the race." Wendy growled.

"Alright then please fill out these forms," she took some papers from under the counter and placed them in front of me along with a pen, "also the race is a double dash this year do you have a partner? If not the committee can provide you with an experienced driver."

"Double dash? The invitation didn't say anything about any double dash, why wasn't I told this beforehand?" I asked.

"Each year when a kingdom hosts the tournament there's always a surprise factor not announced until just before the race but we also make sure that none of these surprises will disqualify an invited racer from participating such as not having a partner," Peach explained, "do you need a partner?"

"No that's why I brought Wendy with me." I said.

"What?!" Wendy exclaimed, "Alex I've never been in a Mushroom Cup race before!"

"Neither have I what's your point?"

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I've never been more sure about anything, you and me babe how about it?"

Wendy was of course surprised but shrugging and shifting Clawdia slightly to free an arm she signed the form on the appropriate line. Although everything I had said was true there was also an ulterior motive at play I hadn't mentioned… I was trying to get Wendy's mind off the fact she had caught me staring a Peach, considering her reaction to being this close to the Princess the last thing I wanted Wendy to think is that I was making eyes at someone she likely considered competition in some womanly capacity. Once all the proper forms had been filled out we were directed to the room that had been prepared for us for the duration of the racing event. The hall we were walking down at the moment was a plain plastered hallway that opened up into what looked like a large open work area where both koopa and toad were working on karts for the upcoming race.

The work area itself was open air with no roof surrounded by high walls that were covered in a variety of tools with several large toolboxes scattered about across a grassy oil stained ground as various mechanics both koopa and toad were busy putting the last touches on the vehicles. The fact that two mortal enemies were able to come together peacefully for a sporting event still amazed me, the way the two of them worked without any true animosity towards one another really said something for the people… despite the loud swearing and trash talking that was going on about how badly each side was going to stomp the other. I decided to follow Wendy's lead since she seemed to know her way around better than I did and when we arrived at our room I could see Roy who seemed to be really excited talking to Bowser at the end of the hall and it was obvious who he had picked as his double dash partner.

"Why don't you go see grandpa and Uncle Roy for a little bit Clawdia?" Wendy said setting her down.

"Okay mommy, wuv you." She said kissing Wendy on the cheek before running off.

The room itself was rather plainly accommodated and of average size with an old beat up metal locker in the far left corner with a large flat screen TV next to it, a couch in the far right designed for a few people to be able to sprawl out on and just lounge. In the center of the room was a large oak table with a wide variety of magazines with a small remote next to some freshly prepared snacks and drinks and a few potted plants scattered about just to take up empty space from what I could tell.

"Not bad the room is-" my sentence was cut short by the loud crack of Wendy's hand connecting with my face, apparently she hadn't overlooked the earlier problem.

"How DARE you stare at Peach like that!" she exclaimed, "It's bad enough that you stood there eye fucking her in front of the whole sports committee but in front of me too?!"

"Wendy you're blowing this whole thing out of proportion I-" once again I was cut short by another slap, "Stop hitting me damnit!"

"Or what? You go around eye fucking other women and I'll make sure you don't have any eyes to look at'em with!"

"Just because I looked at another woman doesn't mean I want to have sex with her. I'm with you because it means something to me, we have a child together for god's sake we're not just an item now, we're a family. I'm not going to just up and blow all that on a piece of ass."

"So you're thinking about her ass too?!"

When Wendy swung at me a third time I caught her arm by the wrist before it connected and began to squeeze her wrist, "I said stop hitting me!"

"Make me, you're so big and bad make me stop hitting you if you've got the balls for it."

"Be glad you're a woman Wendy otherwise I'd flatten someone for talking to me like that." And with that I used my free hand to push her to the floor.

I was hoping that that would have ended the situation but apparently the Wendy I had heard about, the one the rest of the world gets to see decided to make an appearance and shortly after a loud growl she opened her mouth and belched a sheet of fire at me causing me to reel back in order to avoid it. I still can't explain what happened next, perhaps it was one of those instances of the right thing happening at the wrong time but when the air cleared and I recovered myself I returned the snarled and slammed my arms into the table in the middle of the room with enough force to break it in half at the center causing it and everything on it to go crashing to the floor.

"That's it bitch, you want a piece of me bring it!"

Bring it she did because as soon as she stood back up Wendy charged at me and tried to tackle me but at this point I was so angry my adrenaline was pumping and the boost to my strength allowed me to dig my feet into the floor and keep my footing. I quickly wrapped my arms around her and swing with enough force to slam her into the wall next to the door.

"I don't know what you're fucking problem is with Peach but I am NOT going to be your punching bag for any problem between the two of you, you got that?!"

Once again standing up she walked towards me pointing a finger and looked as though she was going to say something, then quickly brought her leg up between my legs with enough force to damn near send my balls into my throat and the pain made it feel like my kidneys were about to explode as I dropped to my knees holding myself. I was nowhere near being able to recover myself when Wendy brought her hand up in a swinging motion slashing me in the face hard enough to send me sprawling across the floor.

"I'm a goddamn Koopa princess dickhead, you don't tell me what I can and can't do, I do whatever the fuck I want!"

Pushing through the pain of the massive groin kick I had just received I decided to fire things up literally and holding my arm out I pulled energy into my hand of form a fireball the size of a basketball and hurled it at Wendy. I wasn't sure why she didn't try to dodge instead of standing there looking at me wide eyed before it exploded and sent her flying into the couch at the far end of the room. Wendy was lying on the couch and I was still on the floor when the door to our room opened and Morton Jr. just leaned against the door frame with his arms folded.

"Uh, you're kinda distracting the other racers you know, they can hear the two of you raising cane three doors down on either side."

"Tell'em to use earplugs." I growled.

Somewhat unsteady from the pain I was still feeling I looked to Wendy and formed another fireball in my hand waiting for her to attack me again.

"WHOA!" Morton exclaimed.

"What?!" I snarled.

"H-How'd you do that?!" he said looking at me with the same surprised expression Wendy had had just moment before.

"Huh?" This time I was confused by the look on their faces, they were looking at me like they'd just seen a ghost.

"The fireball genius, how'd you form the fireball?" he said.

"I just held my hand out and focused energy into it why?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong but when you eat a fire flower your hair turns red, so again, how did you form the fireball snow top?" Morton said.

It took a moment for what he was saying to actually click in my head but when it did I looked at my own fireball the same was they did with eyes wide enough they threatened to fall out of my head. He was right, I saw standing there holding a fully formed, stable fireball in my hand the only problem was I hadn't eaten a fire flower.

"I-I don't know, I just got mad and… I don't know…" I said, letting it dissipate into a plume of smoke.

"Better tell King Dad about this, somethin' ain't right here. Now if the two of you are done with your little tantrum they're about to let you and the other random selection contestants pick your karts so get your asses out to the pit area."

The whole sudden shift in events had left me in a fair state of confusion and I was still waiting for Wendy to launch herself at me again for another round but instead she just slid off the couch and slapped me on the ass as she waked by.

"Come on babe let's go."

Like I said, totally confused, one minute we were kicking, slashing, throwing and hurling various forms of fire at one another and now Wendy was slapping me on the ass like nothing had happened and heading into the pit area to help me pick out a kart for the race. The entire series of events that had just taken place left me in daze an unsure about what was going on.

"She slaps me twice, kicks me in the balls, slashes me across the face and now she's going to help me pick out a kart, what the fuck?" I said.

Morton's only response consisted of just shaking his head and laughing to himself as he walked off down the hall back towards Bowser's room. Using the sleeve of my shirt to wipe the blood off my face I dashed down the hall after Wendy to the pit area to pick out the kart I was going to use for the race and tried to reason things out in my head in regards to being a Koopa and if it was going to end up making me stronger or killing me, I really wasn't sure which at the moment. When Wendy and I arrived to choose our kart I looked around at all the other people who were here which consisted of a Koopa Trooper, a Para-Trooper that had a pair of wings, Wario, some purple scarecrow that looked like a screwed up version of Luigi, something that I could only describe as an ape and a monkey, and a male and female toad that was walking around looking at karts.

"Where's Peach, Bowser, and the brothers?"

"They're guaranteed an invite every year so they have their own custom karts already ready to go."

Even though there were only five teams picking out karts for the race there were at least three dozen models to choose from and though they all had the same basic design it was easy to see that each of them were different in their own way. Most of them looked a lot like soap box derby cars but when I lifted the hood of one I was greeted not only by a compact but powerful looking engine that was equipped with a wide variety of components I had never seen before and while I was no mechanic I did know more than the average person about engines.

"Anything in particular I can help ya find there?" a voice said.

Beside me a toad covered in grease was wiping his hands with an old cloth and looking me over as I looked the kart engine over.

"I don't know really. This is he first time I've ever raced here, well hell it's the first time I've raced period, so I don't really know what I'm looking for."

"New recruit huh? Well then I suggest the NX-300 model." He said pointing to the kart behind me, "Good starter kart for people new to the game, has a good balance of acceleration, speed, and weight to keep you from getting run off the road."

The kart he was referring to was a simple but sleek looking vehicle paint a deep jet black with matching wheels, a steel pipe roll bar in the back, and two brown leather seats, one facing the steering wheel and the other facing the back of the vehicle.

"Run off the road?" I said looking at him.

"Have you even seen a race here before?"

"No."

"Boy are you in for a surprise, yeah you'll get run off the road real quick if you don't keep your wits about you."

"What do you think Wendy, should we go with the NX-300?"

"Well it's a medium weight class kart, he's right about it being well balanced, sounds good to me best to start with something simple our first time out."

"Alright, since this is our first race and you know more about this than I do, how do you work one of these things? I know it's got a steering wheel, gas and brake pedal but I'm guessing this thing has some features we're unaware of."

"Indeed it does," the mechanic said, "I'll show you one of the most important features, see the front and rear facing seat? Why don't the two of you go ahead and have a seat?"

Wendy and I took our seats in the kart with me in the driver seat and her in the seat facing away from me.

"Alright Princess, you see the controls here?" he pointed to a series of buttons and levels situated on control panel anchored to either side of the roll bar, "These let you control the items you'll pick up during the race and use them to help you gain the edge over opponents while racing."

Wendy messed with a few of the buttons and pulled one of the levers as she familiarized herself with the controls and exactly what controlled what and the various functions things served and I could hear her chuckling to herself in the process, she was already thinking up dastardly deeds, that much I knew.

"Alright for the driver the only thing you really need to worry about here is that red button in the center of the steering wheel, both of you put your seatbelts on and let go of anything you're holding on to."

Once we did as instructed the mechanic smirked to himself a little, "Alright, this is the switch button, the most common method is to just yell switch and wait a few seconds before you hit the button, like this."

When the mechanic hit the switch button I could hear a series of gears inside the kart begin to quickly move and the scene around me suddenly shifted and it took a moment to realize what had happened, I was now facing the rear of the kart and Wendy was in the driver's seat. That and the sudden unexpected whirling motion I had just gone through nearly made me hurl.

"It let's the driver and the operator switch positions."

"Switch." Wendy said.

"Oh shit…" I mumbled, finding myself in the driver seat once more a few moments later I decided if I couldn't hold my lunch down I'd hurl on the mechanic.

"Well take'er out to the track and remember the most rule while racing, have fun."


	5. Chapter V

There on the racing track squeezed between the other racers I was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof as we got ready for the first of two races that were to take place that day. I was still staring down at the electronic screen that gave me a view of the race track I was on that looked a lot like a lazy L that was fifteen miles in length scheduled for three laps. The other racers were there as well, the ones I had mentioned from the pit area along with Mario partnered with Luigi, no surprise there, Bowser was seated in one vicious looking green kart with a dragon motif that look like it might eat the other karts if they got too close and Princess Peach was paired with another dark haired princess in a yellow dress I had never seen before.

"Who's the broad in yellow?" I asked, leaning back towards Wendy.

"That's Princess Daisy of Sarasaland." She said.

"Sarasaland, aren't we raiding them right now?"

"Yep."

Wendy had made it abundantly clear that she wanted to be the operator in the race because she was bound and determined to thrash Peach and Daisy repeatedly and as often as possible. I still wasn't sure what Wendy had against Peach but it was obvious the grudge was a big one and I wasn't about to get in the middle of it, at least as much as possible considering the little sortie we had in our room earlier. I really tensed up when I saw one of the Lakitu float towards up with a starting light on the end of a fishing line and stop a few feet over our heads.

"Alright racers, start your engines!"

As the racers started their engines the differences in the karts became immediately obvious. My kart came to life with a loud and steady rumble as the engine powered itself up and again there were a few sounds I didn't recognize but I dismissed them as lack of mechanical knowledge on my part. Several of the other karts such as the one driven by Peach sounded more like a pissed off hornet in an oatmeal box, or a 'rice burner' as someone on Earth might say. That karts driven by Bowser and Wario on the other hand literally rumbled to life with a deep revving sound that almost drowned out the sound of the other kart engines, it was obvious who the heavies were in this race.

The thing that made me nervous more than anything else wasn't the fear of losing, it was simply that even with my lack of inexperience it was obvious this race was different from anything else I had ever seen and I was concerned about making a complete ass out of myself during the event since I wasn't just racing but also representing the Koopa Kingdom and more importantly Bowser by extension. When the first light yellow light appeared the racers all began to rev their engines, then as the second light appeared a few people began to inch forward and when the third and final light appeared giving us all the signal to go all hell broke lose as everyone tried to take off at once.

I may not have been a professional racer but even I knew better than to floor it right out of the gate but I never the less did gas the engine quickly and ended up being carried along by the crunch of cars around me. Moments later things began to spread out giving me room to maneuver but before I was time to react a kart slammed into me from the left forcing me to make a course correction and looking over I saw Wario and his partner sneering in my direction after what was an intention ram. In response I jerked the wheel to the right, then back to the left causing my kart two swerve and then slam into theirs, the effects weren't as severe for them as their kart was obviously heavier than mine but never the less they got the message and it was answered by growls and hisses.

I punched the accelerator to the floor now that I had built up speed and as I had anticipated the heavier weight of their kart might have absorbed most of the shock from my ram but it also slowed them down giving me the chance to accelerate past them. As I was complimenting myself mentally I noticed something ahead of me in the road and started to freak out.

"Wendy, there are blocks in the road!"

"Drive through once!" she yelled.

"Are you crazy we'll crash!"

"Just do it!!!"

Against my better judgment I drove directly at one of the purple blocks floating a few inches off the ground and the moment the kart touched it the block shattered and I quickly looked around trying to figure out what was going on.

"What the hell just happened?" I asked.

"Item block, it activated the operator station… three green shells, not bad."

I had absolutely no idea what was going on but as we came out of the first curve I could see the ape and the monkey ahead of me and as I started to get closer the monkey who was in the operator position started shaking his fist at me. I responded by flipping him a middle finger, he pressed a button on the panel in front of him and something that looked like a banana peel shot out of the back of the vehicle. I almost flipped the kart up on two wheels trying to swerve and just barely avoided the object.

"These karts are armed with weapons?!" I exclaimed.

Wendy looked around the front of the kart for a moment ignoring what I had said and a moment later I heard her press a button that made an audible beep as a green turtle shell shot out of the front of our kart and sped along in front of us until it slammed into the ape's kart sending him into an uncontrolled spin that forced him onto the shoulder of the track.

"Suck on that hairball!" Wendy yelled as we sped by.

In my own mind this was utter insanity, a race where people intentionally rammed each other, shot weapons out of their karts, and drove like total maniacs, despite that I was actually starting to have a lot fun. This was total insanity and that was part of what was so fun about it, if you couldn't out race someone shoot them down before they beat you to the finish line, that's what I'm talkin' about! Speeding down the track with the wind in my face and the smell of summer in the air I was beginning to see why everyone put their differences aside for these sporting events, especially the high speed ones. We were on a straight away leading towards the top of the L shaped track when I saw a pair of green overalls ahead of me and knew immediately who it was, the brothers.

"Got plungers ahead of us, can you aim another one of those shells?"

At the mention of the brothers Wendy looked around again and growled at them almost as much as she did at Peach and quickly started to aim another shell but it was Luigi who pulled the trigger first and sent a red turtle shell directly at us. I quickly cut a sharp left to the inside track of the course trying to evade the projectile only to watch its trajectory change to match mine.

"It's fucking following me?!"

"Homing shell!" Wendy yelled.

When the shell impacted it slammed into the passenger's side front wheel causing our kart to lose traction and go into a spin much like the ape kart had a few moments ago and I found myself fighting to bring us to a stop before we hit the dividing wall that supported the stands. It took me a split second to steady myself and I could hear both cheers and jeers coming from the fans above me and seeing everyone else fly by I quick drove the kart back onto the pavement and took off again.

"Get one of those shells ready, lost some time and now we're behind the banana and bruise team."

Once again using the acceleration of our kart to quickly catch up to Wario and the other weirdo I lined up directly behind them and waited for Wendy to fire off a shot as the purple person seemed to be frantically yelling something to Wario.

"Ram'em babe!"

This time I just decided to trust Wendy and put the peddle to the metal and as the distance between the bumpers began to close Wendy activated another shell but instead of firing it she moved it in front of the kart and kept it there. Seeing the look on the face of Wario's partner as he yelled what was probably a slur of obscenities at me the shell finally impacted causing Wario's kart to actually flip and start tumbling across the road, that was just sadistic what she'd done… I loved it. Another series of odd looking item block appeared in the distance ahead of me and as we approached I heard the last shell fire behind me.

"What'd you do that for?" I asked.

"Empty the kart so we can pick up another item, besides, let the next lap deal with it."

"What'd we get?" I asked as we passed through the block.

"Mega-Mushroom."

"What the hell does that do?"

"Just get on a straight away."

It didn't take me long as we were approaching the second turn of the track and the driving ape again I didn't slow down, this time I jerked the wheel to the right and cut a turn so sharp the tires began to squeal and I heard a series of grunts and screams as we slammed into the monkey kart but I didn't even bother making any sort of nasty gesture I was just trying to haul ass since this turn actually lead to the shortest section of the track. Ahead of me I could see the toad and his partner racing down the track heading into the third turn and in short order I was tearing around the third corner squealing the tires again and when I straightened the kart out I let Wendy know we had reached a decent straight away. What I heard next was something I was completely unprepared for, when Wendy activated this mushroom thing we had picked up I heard a loud whirring noise and a sound I can only describe as the sound of a booster rocket firing. At a guesstimate I'd say it was at least two Gs that slammed me into the back of my seat as I passed the toad like a ball of greased lightning.

"!" was likely all he heard as I passed him by.

I was concerned that we would end up slamming into the dividing wall as the was no way in hell I could turn the kart at these speeds and the final turn was coming up fast enough to make me exceptionally nervous, at the last moment the jet engine under our kart cut out and I jerked the wheel to the left trying to pull us into the turn so hard that the kart actually lifted up on two wheels as we turned. I could hear Wendy yelling something as we sat back down with a loud thump and ahead of me I could see the last three racers, Bowser, Mario, and Peach, in a close crunch fighting for positioning and it suddenly occurred to me that I was in fourth place, a hell of a lot better positioning than I had originally planned on.

We quickly passed through the third and final item block for the lap and I didn't even bother asking Wendy what we had gotten figuring she'd use it at the right time. As we began to approach the little tangle fighting for the top three positions Princess Daisy fired a red shell behind her kart.

"Homing shell!" I yelled.

In response I Wendy hit a button, but this time instead of a shell launching itself from the kart three red shells appeared and began circling us like a sort of spinning shield and when the Daisy's attack hit it slammed into one our shells and the two mutually annihilated one another.

"Two red shells, two enemy kart, you thinking what I am babe?"

Wendy didn't even bother answering as I could hear her working the controls and soon both shells had been launched, one at the princess and the other at the brothers. I watched with smug satisfaction as the two shells homed in on their targets and smashed into their karts sending my two worst enemies spinning out of control. Bowser was now in first place with me bringing up a close second and despite the fact I could have overtaken him on several turns due to the weight of his kart and its reduced turning ability I intentionally stayed in second and for most of the next lap and ran interference for anyone who came up behind us. While this tactic wasn't considered very sporting by some it technically wasn't illegal… I asked Wendy about it by the second turn of the second lap.

Even though I was in second place thinking I was going to finish right behind Bowser it would seem my competitors had other ideas. Because of the interference I was running in keeping people away from Bowser and first place by the time we neared the last turn on the final lap I was heading into the home stretch when I heard Wendy freak out behind me.

"Spiked shell!"

"Is it homing in on us?"

"No it tracks the kart in first place and homes in on them!"

"Aw shit, shoot it something, anything!"

"It won't work, they won't stop until they hit something!"

The shell couldn't be stopped and wouldn't stop until it hit something, and if I didn't do something quickly that someone would be Bowser and Roy and I was doing my best to play interference to earned kudos with Bowser for a reason thus far known only to me. As we approached the final turn it suddenly occurred to me how to derail this spiked shell. As Bowser's kart slid into the turn moving onto the outer section of the track I gunned the engine on my kart and used its lighter weight and superior cornering ability to cut around him on the inner track and take first place.

"Alex what are you doing?!"

"That shell won't stop until it nails the person in first place, if Bowser isn't in first place it'll ignore him."

"You're fucking crazy you know that!"

Despite the rather nasty rebuttal I was about give I was cut short by a beeping sound coming up behind me fast and before I was able to look back to see how close it was a massive impact shudder rocked the kart literally sending the kart I was driving several feet into the air and I was waiting for me life the flash before my eyes before I hit the ground. With a loud crunch of metal and rubber the kart landed a few seconds later, to my surprise, on its wheels and without even thinking I floored the gas peddle making my way towards the finish line, unfortunately by the time I was able to recover my senses and continue on the brothers and Peach had already passed the finish line in second and third place. Even with the tremendous hit from that spiked shell I was able to pick up enough speed to prevent anyone else from passing us and finished a modest fourth place, not bad for my first race.

* * *

In the pit area where I had selected my kart I pulled in, slowly, and parked some distance away from the work area just taking my time and catching my breath, that race was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, insane speeds, weapons, violent competition for placement, definitely not your run of the mill NASCAR race. Wendy and I were both panting heavily and laughing about the race when we unbuckled ourselves from the seat and just collapsed on the ground looking into the sky as we let the adrenaline rush from the events wear off.

"That's was utterly insane." She said.

"Yeah but what a rush!" I replied.

"Wendy, Alex, get up!" I heard someone yell.

With a bit of stiffness in my back from the race I sat up and saw my father Mortimer running across the pit area, which was a surprise since I didn't even know he was here in the first place, but more importantly I was concerned by the look on his face as he approached. After a moment of leaning of our kart to catch his breath from all the running he looked up and adjusted his wide rimmed glasses.

"It's Clawdia," he finally managed, "they took her… someone kidnapped Clawdia during the race."

Like a bolt of lightning Wendy and I were on our feet and racing through the pit area as fast as we could manage to our rooms where there were a number of security personnel of both toad and koopa variety milling around with an extremely pissed off looking Koopa family standing around the entrance to Bowser's room. The door to his room had been broken off the hinges and when Wendy and I looked inside it was obvious to see there had been a struggle and from the look of things Clawdia had put up one hell of a fight. There were claw and teeth marks everywhere including several places on the floor that were covered in small amounts of blood though it was impossible to tell if it was toad or koopa blood at this point.

"What the fuck happened?!" I snapped.

"The Northern Toad Alliance," Roy said, "they're an extremist faction here in the Kingdom that have decided to fight against us Koopa using any means at their disposal to achieve their goals." With that he held out a note to me.

I took the note and quickly read through it with Wendy looking over my shoulder. The letter was filled with various threats and obscenities towards the Koopa which a mostly skipped over, the part that caught my attention the most was the part that said they had my daughter and would be contacting me in a few days with their demands, demands that, if not met, would result in Clawdia's head being mailed to Koopa Castle in a box. Wendy starting crying, or rather outright bawling a few moments later and Bowser held her trying and comfort her, though more than anything my vision was about to turn red and any toad in sight was about thirty seconds away from being dead. I didn't are if they were Northern Alliance or not at this point, I just wanted the toads dead and my daughter back.

"Who was in charge of Koopa security here?" I growled.

Several of the Koopa Troops seeing the look on my face made a hasty retreat from the immediate vicinity of the Koopa captain who was standing off to one side and when he saw me looking at him he started to back away. When I began walking towards him he took several more steps back and started to say something but before he could get two words out my fist flew out and caught him under the chin in an uppercut motion hard enough to pick him up off his feet and throw him back onto his shell several feet later, needless to say the captain was no longer in much of a position to say anything.

"When we get home I want proceedings started to court-martial the captain, this breach of security is absolutely and utterly unacceptable. You haven't just allowed my daughter to be kidnapped you failed your king, made a fool of yourselves and your position, heads will roll for this and the rest of you had better prey they're not yours!"

It never occurred to me to consult with Bowser about court-martialing one of his captains but at that moment I was so angry I couldn't see straight and considering he didn't reprimand or contradict what I had said I assumed he didn't have any issues with what I had said. As I turned back to towards Bowser and everyone else that was gathered in the hallway I saw Princess Peach and Mario Brothers making their way towards us through the crowd, I started to move towards them to tear into all three of them over this when Bowser held his arm out stopping me in mid-stride. Wendy came over to me still in tears and I held her as Bowser approached Peach.

"King Koopa I just heard about what happened, I assure you that the monarchy of the Mushroom Kingdom was neither involved in or party to this." Peach said.

"Irrelevant, the fact remains that people under the jurisdiction of your government precipitated a hostile act against the Koopa royal family." Bowser replied.

"Please be assured that I will do everything in my power to see that Clawdia is returned to you safe, unharmed, and that the criminals involved will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for what they've done."

"You have three days Princess, if Clawdia is not returned by then I will declare all out war and by the time I am through the Mushroom Kingdom will be nothing but a charred memory. I cannot and will not tolerate such an act against my family," with that he turned and began to walk away, "we're leaving, I will no longer be party to an event that cannot guarantee the safety of my family."

"I want them dead, I want all of them dead!" Wendy growled.

I wanted until we were out of ear shot range of everyone else before speaking my mind on the matter, "We're not really going to wait three days are we?"

"Of course not," Bowser said, "as soon as we get home I'm going to put together a team of the most elite soldiers in my army and you're going to lead them into the Mushroom Kingdom to find Clawdia and kill those responsible for kidnapping her."

"Damn right I will." I said.

"I ant to be part of this too father," Wendy said, "she's my daughter I have a right to be part of this."

Bowser responded with a curt nod accepting what Wendy had said.


	6. Chapter VI

When I had entered the war council room in Castle Koopa to plan the attack on the town of Lilliona there had only been a few advisers on hand to discuss the matter at hand, but now, now it looked as though the entire senior council of the Dark Lands had been summoned for this meeting. The kidnapping of my daughter Clawdia had not only been described as an act of war by Bowser but it was also in my mind every reason we needed to invade Lillonia and the great Mushroom kingdom itself, but at the moment my mind was focused on finding this Northern Toad Alliance and killing every last member associated with them.

"As you have all been informed, during the Mushroom Cup Race the Northern Toad alliance, and anti-koopa terrorist faction breached our security detail and kidnapped my granddaughter Clawdia, this council has been convened for the sole purpose of finding and recover Clawdia and destroying every last remnant of this organization as a warning to anyone who thinks they can lay hand upon a member of the Koopa royal family and not pay the price for it. Now what information do we have on the NTA?" Bowser said.

"You're right about one thing, the NTA is an anti-koopa terrorist faction but the problem we're facing in locating them is they're not an organization in the aspect most people think. They don't have a base of operations, offices, or any sort easily identifiable hierarchy. From what little information we have been able to gather on them since their formation a few years ago it's indicated they don't even have a centralized leadership, each cell operates independent of the other fearful of how vulnerable a large gathering of their members would make them." Iggy said.

"I didn't know you were into espionage." I said looking over at Iggy.

"Of course, that's the point." He said.

"I saw we track down some of their members and start smashing heads until they spill the beans about their leaders." Roy said.

"That's another problem with the NTA, even within a single cell the vast majority of the lower level members don't even know who the other members or leaders of the cell are save for a single handler that organizes and assigns their missions as a precaution against that very tactic Roy," Morton Jr. said, "I work with Iggy." he said looking my direction.

"Do we even have any idea how many cells there are?" I asked.

"Our last intelligence reports indicate at least five major cells operating throughout the Kingdom with several smaller subsidiary cells scattered throughout the land." Iggy said.

"Isn't that stupid bitch Peach even trying to do anything about these NTA assholes?" Wendy asked.

"The monarchy has been trying to curtail the activities of the NTA since their inception but the problem is it's almost impossible to identify the members, they come from all walks of life from what I've heard, they could be anything from a street vendor selling his wares in the market to high ranking officials deep inside the Kingdom government. That much I know because of the highly publicized trail last year of a high ranking Kingdom minister being exposed as an NTA operative and given a lengthy jail sentence." Iggy said.

"Well that slut isn't doing enough because they have my baby!" Wendy exclaimed, still visibly shaken by the kidnapping.

"Do we have any viable information to begin an investigation?" Bowser asked.

"The most recent activity of the NTA prior to this was last week in Cape Boomer about thirty miles north of Rogue Port, they bombed a Goomba run grocery store and spray painted a wide variety of anti-koopa graffiti on the surrounding buildings. Despite the fact the Goomba in question has neither ties to the Dark Lands nor any sort of criminal record it seems the NTA is escalating their terrorist activities to include koopas that have no affiliation to us." Morton Jr. said pointing to a town on the map laid out on the table in front of us, "I suggest we start our investigation there because this particular attack caused considerable unrest among the citizen of Cape Boomer towards the NTA. From what I heard the Goomba who's store was bombed was very well connected and highly respected by his friends and neighbors, in light of this the people might be more willing to co-operate with attempts to retaliate."

"So what should we do, go incognito and approach the Goomba in question? If we're going to look for intelligence about the NTA I'm thinking the best approach is to do so quietly in a manner that won't draw attention to ourselves or raise suspicion, the less they know the better." I said.

"I agree, the NTA are known for being able to disappear without a trace and if they get wind of what we're doing they'll disappear like a ghost before we even get close to them. Our best approach would be to seek out Gardis under the cover of night, that will give us our best chance of moving about unseen." Morton Jr. said.

"What about snow top over there, he'll stick out like a sore thumb in the middle of a field. He's got one of the most recognizable appearances in the entire kingdom." Iggy said.

Iggy was right too, how often do you see a man with snow white hair walking around? My appearance was something I was going to need to address before I undertook this mission and I was about to start considering options when Bowser placed his hand on my shoulder. At first I wasn't sure exactly what he was up to but when I felt a surge of heat begin to move through my body I had a fair idea what was going on. Bowser was considered to be one of, if not the, most formidable user of Koopa magic alive but when the surge of heat was followed by a blinding white light and enough pain to bring me to my knees I began to wonder what he was actually up to, but as quickly as it began it was over and I found myself on my knees braced against the conference table for balance.

"Wow nice job dad." Roy said.

"Alex are you okay?" Wendy asked.

"I'm not sure, I think I just got blindsided by a King Koopa, what happened?" I said struggling to get back to my feet.

Taking a small compact out of her shell Wendy opened it and held the mirror in front of my face. The reflection I saw was so different I almost couldn't believe my eyes, where I would have seen a young white haired man just moments ago I now saw a man with ebony black hair and a slightly sagging age lined face that had the appearance of someone in their late forties to early fifties. This didn't just look like a Hollywood makeup job either with a twenty something actor plastered to look older, I actually as old as I thought myself to be.

"What the fuck?" I mumbled.

"Dermal tissue acceleration to alter your appearance and a small paint job for your hair, your face will begin pulling itself back into the proper position in a few days," Bowser said, "now back to the business at hand. I agree that our best course of action will be to approach the individual in Cape Boomer that was attacked by the NTA. Alexander, I'll be sending a small group of elite soldiers with you for this mission, you have three days to complete this mission."

"What happens in three days?" I asked.

"In three days we continue with the invasion of Lilliona as planned." He said.

"I'll accompany you and Wendy," Iggy said, "this mission is going to require some stealth and subterfuge."

"Fine, unless there's anything else to discuss I'm leaving… now." I said.

No one in the room said anything or tried to stop me so I assumed we had said everything that needed to be said and the plan had been set in motion. Wendy was quick to fall into step beside me as I once again left the war council.

"What do you plan to do Alex?" she asked.

"What do you think? I'm going to find the NTA bastards and kill every fucking one of them, the moment they touched our daughter they signed their death warrants, and the reaper is about to collect." I said.

"Hey Alex wait up!" I heard Roy call.

I didn't say anything as I turned to look at him because at this point in time I wanted to kill someone and I'd rather not alienate the people I work with, thus silence was the best course of for the moment.

"Alex, I want to go with you too." Roy said.

"Why…" I replied.

"Because, now don't get me wrong here or anything cause I'm not challenging you on anything, but while you were gone in the absence of a father figure I got rather close to Clawdia and this has hit me really hard too. I want to kill those bastards as much as you do."

"Fine." Was my only response.

* * *

By the time I reached the pipe room in the castle the team that was going to accompany the four of us on this investigation were already ready and waiting when we entered the room. There were a pair of hammer brother clad in metal armor instead of their normal leather gear wielding a rather set war hammers, two magi-koopa with mystic symbols inlayed in their robes and full length staves instead of wands.

"Four people, that's it?" I asked.

"Eight, there are four Ninjis too." One of the Hammer Brothers said.

"I don't see any Ninjis." I said.

"That's why they're coming." He replied.

"How close will the warp pipe take us to Cape Boomer?" I asked.

"We should arrive about a half mile outside of town but being as late as it is most of the people will be asleep which should help us move in unnoticed." Iggy said.

I was about to step into the pope everyone was standing next to when a thought occurred to me, even though Bowser has used his magic to change the appearance of my face I was still wearing my shell which would immediately identify me to anyone who saw it, after all I am the only Koopa around with a black shell… I am Koopa, that thought came almost second nature to me… perhaps I really was Koopa now. Carefully slipping my shell off I walked to the door, opened it, and handed the shell to one of the turtle guards outside.

"Take that to my room, place it on my bed and if you scratch it I'll take it out of your ass." I said, turning to leave without even waiting for his response.

"How's the disguise now?" I asked, walking back over to the others hold my arms out slightly.

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement and once everyone was ready I was the first to step into the pipe and drop down inside. It was still an odd sensation for me to travel through the pipe network, to willingly jump into a pitch black pipe and then suddenly appear somewhere else often many miles from where I had started. My sensing began to quickly take in my surroundings as the sulfurous undertone of Castle Koopa faded giving way to the sweet scent of summer flowers and wet grass and within seconds I was standing in the middle of a field with a gentle summer's breeze blowing through my hair. I glanced upward as I took a few steps forward to allow the rest of the group room to exit and looking into a clear black sky filled with stars that glistened like diamonds my mind subconsciously tried to make out constellations among them, when I couldn't a sudden alien feeling came over me until it clicked in my mind I wasn't looking into the sky on Earth.

"So what's the plan?" Roy asked.

"Before we do anything I'm going to head into town by myself to try and make contact with this Goomba we're looking for. I don't want to hear any objections either, we're trying to maintain a low profile and a group would draw a lot more attention than a single person walking through town. If I'm not back in half an hour come looking for me." With that I took off walking without even looking back.

Just as Iggy has said almost all of Cape Boomer was asleep with only a few lights scattered randomly about in the houses as I approached the outskirts of the city. Cape boomer was a medium sized town that appeared to be constructed with a variety of different style from several architects, some of the houses looked like the average house you'd see on just about any street while others looked like miniature Victorian masons and several of the stores were made out of solid stone, likely to protect against fires and vandalism. Moving carefully through the back alleys I came to a stop a moment later as the buildings gave way to the town square which was a circular shaped clearing with a cobblestone floor set with a fountain in the center depicting Princess Peach holding a water jug from which water flowed lazily into a large basin below. I was about to look for an establishment that was still open at this hour when I caught the eyes of a toad town guard who saw me at the same time. If I had dashed back into the alley he would have immediately sounded the alarm and given chase so instead I walked right up to him.

"Excuse me sir, would you happen to know where I could find Gardis? I need to speak with him immediately." I said.

"At this hour?" The guard asked, looking at me oddly.

"Yes I realize how late it is but this matter is extremely important, he's expecting me." I said.

"What could be so important you have to talk with him at 12:45 at night?" The guard asked.

"I'm sorry but I'm not at liberty to say, it's confidential." I replied.

"Oh, more of that business confidentiality stuff huh? Last time I saw him he was at the all night café Waffle Hut, it just down the road that way." The guard said, pointing behind him.

With a small nod to the guard I walked away scanning the area quickly making out a building in the distance with a sign out front that was still lit. After a short walk I came to a café that was surrounded on three sides by massive windows that started about waist level and went all the way up to the roof which was white with red speckles like the hats the toads wore. Inside there was a counter directly in front of the door with several stools and booths lining both the left and right sides of the inner wall with a few scattered patrons eating quietly and a few toad employees that looked rather bored.

"Welcome to Waffle Hut." They said as soon as I walked in.

It wasn't hard for me to find Gardis as he was the only Goomba in the establishment right now and there was an exceptionally large creature sitting next to him that I remember from my time in the library as being a Boom Boom, probably hired muscle. Gardis was in the middle of eating what looked like bacon and eggs with his face buried in the plate due to the lack of having any hands when I approached and sat down opposite them in the booth. The Boom Boom next to him seemed to get agitated the moment he saw me taking a seat and Gardis looked up at me blinking a few times in surprise.

"Good evening, do I know you?" he asked.

"No, but I know you and it seems we have a mutual problem." I said.

"And what might this problem be?"

Instead of immediately answering I looked over at the Boom Boom next to him and quirked a brow suspiciously.

"Don't worry about Wulk, he's deaf about things like this."

I was still a little suspicious about Wulk but as I didn't have time to debate the matter I took Gardis at his word, "The problem we have is the NTA, did you hear about the incident that took place at the Mushroom Cup Race?" I said in a hushed tone.

"How they kidnapped Bowser's granddaughter Clawdia? Considering who it was that got snatched and his threat to declare war in three days if she isn't returned… who hasn't?"

"Then it seems we're on the same page then because I heard about the bombing of your store as well, seems we could both benefit from getting rid of these little bastards."

Gardis just looked at me oddly for a moment before he continued, "You're right, they bombed my store and kidnapped Bowser's granddaughter, so where exactly do you fit into all this? What's your angle?"

I almost made a rather cynical remark about his eyesight until I remembered that Bowser had altered my face, hair color, and I was sans shell so I just leaned closer to him, "Bowser hired me to get locate and recover Clawdia."

"So what is it you want from me, I'm just a merchant not a soldier."

"Just a merchant, don't play dumb with me Gardis you're not the only one with sources, I know you're connected in this town and after what happened I'd wager that you're trying to locate these NTA pricks as hard as I am."

"Maybe I do maybe I don't information don't come free you know, what's in it for me?"

"Because when Bowser hired me he actually gave me two missions, one was to recover his granddaughter and the second… the NTA laid hands on a member of the Koopa royal family, he wants an example made out of them as a warning to anyone else."

"Oh does he now?" Gardis seemed quite interested now, "What kind of example are we talking about?"

"No survivors."

"Now you're talking my language," Gardis smirked, "Alright, here's what I know."

* * *

The information I had gained from Gardis was actually more helpful than I thought it would be, considering he had two names as possible NTA members seen leaving the scene of the bombing and that he his sources indicated there were only an estimated five members in Cape Boomer he was more connected than I thought he was. I made a straight line from the Waffle Hut to there where I had arrived and found the others waiting for me behind a small gathering of rocks and boulders a few yards away.

"Well, what'd the Goomba say?" Iggy asked as I approached.

"Seems our little Goomba has some friends in pretty high, or low, places. He gave me the names of two suspected NTA members and says his sources estimate there are only about five members in town total."

"You get any addresses to go with those names?" Iggy asked.

"One actually, a pair of toad brothers that live in the northern section of town, 221 Blue St. We need to scout the area and pinpoint the location of these two before we figure out where to go from here."

"Already on it." Roy said, thumbing over his shoulder.

When I glanced over my shoulder I caught something out of the corner of my eye but it moved so fast it was gone before I could really get a look at it.

"Ninji?" I asked.

"Yep, had two set out scouting around outside town after you left in case anyone tried to pull a ghost act before you got back, that one's headed to Blue St. to see if anyone's home."

"Alright Iggy you're up. Since we're trying to keep a low profile on this mission what's our next step?" I said.

"Raise ten shades of hell." He said.

"Wait a minute, I thought we were trying to keep a low profile here?" I said.

"It's a diversion, I was thinking about what you said about there only being five NTA members in town according to local intel. If that is the case than it's not likely they have a local handler to give them their missions, orders probably come from out of town."

"And?" I asked.

"And if Roy shows up in the middle of the night screaming his head off about killing every NTA member he can get his hands on in the center of town, what's the first thing you'd do if you were NTA?"

"Call my handler to for instructions?" Wendy added.

"Exactly and when they do I'll be ready for them." Iggy said, pulling a small electronic device with two wires and a set of earphones from his shell.

"What's that?" Roy asked.

"Line tap for a phone line, no spy worth his shell would be caught dead without one," Iggy said, "so you think you can handle causing chaos and destruction in town Roy?"

"Does a Cheep-cheep live in water? Let's get this show on the road." Roy said, before turning and jogging towards the town.

Once Roy was on his way into town Iggy looked around for a moment before moving over to a small hole that looked freshly dug and reaching his hand down into it, a moment later a jerk of his wrist was followed by a small snapping sound as he discarded a piece of plastic piping. Kneeling next to the hole he placed the earphones in his ears then carefully connected the wires of the line tap to the phone line, a pair of small clipping sounds were followed by some beeps and flashing lights as he manipulated the controls.

"Now what?" Wendy asked.

"Now we wait." Iggy said.


	7. Chapter VII

The wait wasn't a long one as less than five minutes after Roy had made his way into Cape Boomer Wendy, Iggy, and I all heard the sound of a several small explosions, flashes of light, and screams from the center of town. We all quickly took cover behind the small outcropping of rocks as several of the villagers came running into the field as they looked back at the town and I took several glances over at Iggy who was still working with his line tap, so far so good. For the next several minutes things seemed to continue to go smoothly and chaos continued to reign in the town until everything came to an abrupt stop for a moment. None of us were quite sure what was happening until a small series of lights appeared briefly along with the telltale sound that immediately identified them as fireballs being thrown.

"Mario!" I growled and began to stand up, Iggy quickly grabbed me by the shoulder and when I looked back I saw him shaking his head.

"Not yet Alex, we have to maintain our cover." He said.

I was still so angry over Clawdia's kidnapping that all I wanted to do was head into town with Roy and kill everything in sight, but in the back of my mind I knew that he was right about maintaining our cover and so I forced my anger aside and stooped down again and waited… I hated waiting. It was only a few minutes later when the action died down again before we saw a figure running our direction in the distance, as it got closer we could see that not only was it Roy but that his body was covered by burns that in some places had gone completely through the skin exposing and burning the muscles underneath.

"Iggy you little shit, you'd better have gotten that damned info." He said, collapsing to his knees when he reached us.

Wendy immediately took her wand from her shell and rushed over to Roy doing what she could to heal his wounds as we all waited For a moment we all waited silently, it seemed as though things had come almost to a standstill before he finally grinned broadly.

"Got it!" he hissed, "There's a handler in Rogue Port… he's telling them to keep a low profile… and I just completely the trace, I have his address come on let's go!"

In light of the massive wounds Roy had I thought he would have trouble moving but once we started to move out with Iggy packing up his gear as the Ninji's were signaled to return he just stood up as though nothing had happened and flexed his muscles, wincing slightly in the process. With the group gathered together once more we quickly made our way through the field away from Cape Boomer and though I wasn't quite sure where we were going I let Iggy take the lead, some distance behind us there was a small grove of trees and Iggy made a hand signal as we approached, before I could ask what it was Roy offered up the answer.

"Toad guards up ahead, smoke'em!"

I didn't wait for further instructions in the matter and as we moved through the trees I could see a small light ahead and holding me hand out as I ran I gathered energy into it once more summoning a fairly large fireball. When we broke through into the center of the grove there were four guards looking our way, obviously aware of our less than stealthy approach and when they saw us the four toads armed with spears began to cut and run as I call it, but with Wendy, Iggy, Roy, and I there we all seemed to immediately lock onto a different target as I hurled my fireball at one of the guards full force. The impact caused a massive explosion of fire and flames and the toad disappeared with a shriek leaving little more than a charred mark on the ground, when I looked to the Wendy and the others I saw the same thing the only difference being that they all had wisps of smoke rising from their mouths. There was a single green pipe surrounded by four glowing lanterns and when things settled down Iggy looked to me.

"This pipe exits close to Rogue Port, it's part of the Kingdom's pipe network connecting the towns. We have to hurry the guards are suppose to check in regularly with base camp, when they don't they'll sent a patrol to investigate and they won't be as lightly armed."

I didn't wait for further explanations and grabbing the edge of the pipe I swung my body over the side and a moment later I was rising head first through the exit. I moved out of the way to let the others through and quickly scanning my surroundings I saw Rogue Port across a grassy plain similar to Cape Boomer and in the distant darkness of the night I could hear the ocean crashing against the shoreline as a gentle wind rose up bringing with it the salty smell of ocean air. Situated on the coast Rogue Port was the import/export hub of the Mushroom Kingdom and it looked much the same as it had the first time I came calling only this time the massive wooden gates at the front entrance were closed and I could just make out a large group of guards out front illuminated by the firelight of the torches out front.

That was something else that puzzled me about this place, it seemed to be a hodgepodge of technology with some places that appeared to almost be in the Stone Age with horses, carts, and hand tools then right down the road the neighboring town has lights, cars, trains, and seems to boast a modern society with advanced technology. I quickly shoved the thought aside deciding to ask about something so trivial at a later time when a large number of toads were dead and Clawdia was safely back in my arms, I had never been a father before and now that I was the only thought in my mind was getting her back no matter what the cost. Never in all my life had I felt a drive as strong as I did when my own flesh and blood was threatened and until this was resolved I knew I wouldn't think of anything else, my entire life all I had ever wanted was a family and now that that family was threatened I would do anything to protect it.

"What's the plan Iggy? How do we handle this?" I asked.

"Simple, you scare the shit out of him until he tells us what we want to know, then kill'em."

"Works for me, any idea on how we'll get to him? With the ruckus Roy just caused the NTA is probably up in arms expecting something else."

"Shock and awe, we'll move in gather the information and move on before they have a chance to react, by the time they realize the cell here has been destroyed we'll already be at their door, we'll probably have to deal with the brothers, ready for round two in Rogue Port?"

"I was fuckin' born ready, let's do this."

There was no stealth in our approach this time, no guile, we were simply going to walk up, blow the goddamn doors off and take what we needed, which appealed more to my desire to kill anything that moved. The Ninji's were dispatch to scout the perimeter of the city to alert us in the event anyone tried to escape, once the fourth who was sent into the city to locate the address we were after returned with the information he too was assigned to scouting duty as we approached the gate. The guards were talking amongst themselves and laughing lightly when we approached and as soon as they spotted us the expressions of levity and laughter disappeared only to be replaced by fear and shock. Of all the guards including a few independent Goombas a single spear wielding Toad was shoved to the forefront to address us.

"W-W-What do y-you want?" he stammered, trying his best to hold the spear in my direction.

Perhaps I was actually starting to become a little mentally unstable by the recent series of events in my life but at this point I didn't give a flying fuck, the guard was terrified at seeing Magi-Koopa, metal clad Hammer Brothers, and four of the meanest people in the service of Bowser and it showed. I took a few steps forward and threw my arms out in a threatening manner causing the guard to jump back a step as a wild glimmer entered my eye.

"You know why we're here now if you want to see sunrise tomorrow morning get the fuck out of my way peon."

"W-We don't know where y-you're daughter is!" he replied.

"But there's someone here in the city that does, last warning, get out of my way!"

"I c-can't do that!" he said, swallowing hard.

Neither I nor anyone with me even bothered with words after, pulling energy into my hands I grew my lips back in a deep snarl and the glow coming from behind me told me the others were following suit. It seemed as though the guards would cut and run at first but instead they all quickly dashed to one side or the other to avoid the wave of attacks leveled at them with only two of them being caught in the crossfire, the guard out front and one of the Goombas were turned to ash before they even knew what hit them. This was considerably different than our normal approach as even the Koopa normally refrained from killing people as it was our desire to rule not destroy, but in this instance even Bowser would not have grown angry over this.

When the gate guards had regained their positions they quickly scattered and at first I thought it would turn into a chaotic melee until I realized they were moving in a wide formation to try and surround us as there were six more of them than there were us. I let the others deal with the guards approaching the on their own and I locked eyes with a trio of Toad guards intent on rushing me thinking that three on one gave them a chance of winning, unfortunately for them they were still outnumbered. Their approach was rather basic with all three of them running at me with their spears pointed ahead of them in a shoulder to shoulder formation, normally I would have fried them on the spot but they were moving fast enough that I didn't have time.

At the last moment when they were almost on top of me I flipped over top of them placing my hand on the hat of the middle guard and flipping my legs over my head, reaching out with my other arm as I landed I grabbed the guard by the chin and with a swift jerk of my arms his neck made an audible snap and he crumpled to the ground in a heap. The others were taken aback by the sight of their comrade's fallen body but they quickly shook it off and seemed to steel themselves for another charge, I just let out a low chuckle and motioned for them to bring it on with my hands. This time they tried closing the distance between us and jabbing at me repeatedly with the tips of their spears, but it was to little effect as I either twisted out of the way or knocked the shaft aside with my hand.

What caught my attention more than anything was the more I focused of the fight the slower the guards seemed to move, their each jab of their spear seemed to be slower than the last, even their yells were becoming deeper almost like the were moving in slow motion. When the guard to my left thrust his spear instead of just knocking it aside I twisted my arm around grabbing the shaft and wrenching it loose from his grasp I quickly spun it around and slammed the point into his chest before he even realized what was happening. The next moment I felt a deep pain in my shoulder as the remaining guard grazed me with the tip of his spear and reacting on instinct I lashed out with my foot and kicked him with enough force to send him crashing into the gate with a loud crash from which he didn't get up.

With the three guards attacking me out of the way I looked around to see how the others were doing and most of what had been the guard unit was either a scorch mark on the ground, crumpled in a heap with hammer bludgeons covering his body, and one next to a Magi-Koopa was a quivering pile of something I couldn't even begin to identify. They all seemed to be no worse for the wear with only a few cuts and scraps to show for the fight.

"Seems my intelligence was right Peach has been training guard units, the Toads are usually pushovers but these almost put up a fight. I'll have to keep an eye on this." Iggy said.

The comment was lost on me as my only intent at the moment was forcing the gate open and finding this handler that we were after. We lined up shoulder to shoulder almost much as the guards had done and I could see Wendy and the others getting ready to attack as I charged a fireball then as a group we unleashed our attacks and the gate was hammered by a combination of hammers, spells, fire, and it quickly buckled with a exploding into a shower of dust and splinters. When things finally settled down we made our way inside walking along the cobblestone streets of the city making no attempt to hide our presence as we went, Iggy want shock and awe and that's exactly what he would get.

Most of the town had been roused by the confrontation at the gate but as soon as they poked their heads out their doors to see what was going on and caught sight of us those doors quickly slammed to the sound of locks and deadbolts latching. We had just entered the town square from the west when we saw two toads coming out of the door to the house we were heading to and as they turned around our eyes met and they froze for a split second before taking off down main road leading east. About to give chase I stopped suddenly when Roy hunched down and launched himself forward climbing at least ten feet into the air, when he landed he did so bringing the full force of his weight onto his feet and actually caused a localized tremor causing our targets to stumble and fall… I didn't know Koopa could jump like that. The two Toads didn't have a chance to get to their feet before Roy had each of them held aloft by the back of their vests and was walking back towards us holding our squirming and panicking victims safely in hand.

"Alright, I'm going to make this short and sweet. I don't know which one of you is the handler but I don't care, either start talking or you'll die a very slow and extremely painful death." I said.

"He's the handler, I don't know anything I swear!" the one on the left said pointing to the other.

"Do you worst you piece of Koopa garbage, you think I'm afraid of you?" the other growled.

"It's not so much me that you should be afraid of as what I'll do to you if you don't tell me what I want to know." I said, narrowing my eyes.

"And if I don't you'll kill me? The NTA would kill me if I told you anything so go ahead, I'm not afraid to die I knew it was one of the risks when I joined up."

"Oh no I won't kill you, in fact that's the last thing I'd do. If you don't tell me what I want to know I've have one of the hammer brothers here take you back to Castle Koopa and you'll be an honored guest in Bowser's torture chamber. For someone that had a hand in kidnapping his granddaughter I can promise that he'll have torturers on call 24/7 to make sure every moment you're there will be filled with untold pain and agony, you'll be tortured day and night, over, and over, and over, and then when you're on the brink of death you'll be taken to the hospital to be treated so you can recover before we start all over again… for years. How would you like to be suspended from hooks, skinned alive, and then lowered into a tub of saltwater?"

With the idea of such of horrible fate the once fearless Toad's skin actually lightened a few and I could see he was thinking things over in his head so I decided to give him a little more incentive. This incentive came in the form of taking his friend by the back of the vest and handing him off to Wendy since he was pretty much useless, once she had hold of him she growled audibly baring her teeth and I turned my head slightly holding my hand in front of my face mostly to avoid having blood splash on my face as I listened to her victim scream in time with the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones.

"He was lucky," I said, turning back to the handler after Wendy was finished, "so what's it going to be?"

"Okay okay I'll tell you what I know, just keep her away from me. I don't know where Clawdia is being held they didn't tell me, but considering she's the first Koopa/Human hybrid we've ever heard of they were extremely interested in learning more about her. There's a lab in the town of Deep Wood under NTA control that's probably where she was taken."

"Thank you, Roy set him down." I said.

The others all looked at me curiously but when I motioned to the ground again Roy set the handler down who began to adjust his clothing slightly when he was on his feet again. I waited a moment for his to look at me again before I held my hand out beside me and began to form an immense fireball over my palm, when the handler saw it he began to panic and backed away a few steps.

"B-But you said…" he stammered.

"I said if you told me you wouldn't be tortured for years on end, I never said I'd let you live. You think you can play a part in the kidnapping of my daughter and just walk away from it? Oh no, and example will be made here and now so everyone can see the price for laying hand on a Koopa princess." I said.

Even with the chaos that was going on outside a small crowd that had started to form around us which was perfect as this was just that, and example for everyone to see. The handler was holding his hands out in front of himself as if it would protect him as I looked around to make sure everyone was watching, then drawing my arm back in a wide arcing motion I brought it forward hurling a fireball that was now the size of a basketball at him as he let out a final scream before being engulfed in flames that reduced him to so much ash on scorched black cobblestone.

"Let this not only be a lesson to you," I said, pointed my finger at them with another wide swing of my arm, "but also let it be known that from this day forth, any attacks by the NTA on any Koopa, anywhere, any time, will be punished with the death of one hundred Toads, so I suggest that you start looking for these NTA members and get rid of them yourselves one way or another. No one will be safe, no home will protect you, and two plumbers can't be everywhere at once, so long as the NTA continue to attack Koopa kind you will always be walking down the street and looking over your shoulder wondering if there's a Koopa waiting to take revenge for an NTA attack against them, remember that."

"Alex we need to go now! One of the Ninji's just reported Mario and Luigi are headed this way!" Iggy said.

True to their nature one of the Ninji's had appeared next to Iggy without me even seeing their approach. Normally I would welcome a chance to confront the brothers and duke it out but right now getting Clawdia back safe and unharmed was my main priority so we quickly dashed back towards the front gate of Rogue Port and managed to make a quick withdrawal without encountering the brothers.


	8. Chapter VIII

The sun had begun to set against the mountains to the west casting the last of its golden rays across the field as I sat with the others discussing what our next move was. It was a forgone conclusion that we would be heading to Deep Woods to find this lab the handler had told us about but first we needed to know what we would be going up against and what to expect once we got there, Iggy being the intelligence officer lead the conversation.

"If Deep Woods is controlled by the NTA like the handler told us then using the pipe system is out of the question, they'll have all the pipes in and around the town monitored, we'll have to approach on foot." he said

"How far is Deep Woods?" I asked.

"It's only a few hours, probably less if we keep a fast pace, we need to hit Deep Woods before they find out what happened in Rogue Port and tighten their defenses, the longer we wait the harder it's going to be."

"Then why are we sitting here waiting, let's go!" Wendy said.

Wendy began to storm off as we all stood up getting ready to move out, Roy walked after her to stop her and when she looked up at him he pointed in the opposite direction she was walking, once we were all moving in the right direction we maintained a quick pace in the direction of Deep Woods. I was surprised by how close Wendy was to me holding my hand, I imagine this was eating at her as much as it was me but as ever she didn't let it show maintaining a strong face outwardly. I had gotten so used to using the pipe network to travel around the Mushroom Kingdom moving on foot seemed painfully slow and I also noticed that despite the fact the kingdom was dotted with small forests and rivers that it was mostly lush undeveloped fields and I was thinking to myself what potential it could have in the right hands... in Koopa hands.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

"Did you write that?" Wendy asked after hearing me quote the poem to myself.

"Hmm?" I said looking over at her, "Oh no that was a poem called 'The Road Not Taken' by a famous Earth poet named Robert Frost. I recite it from time to time, seems fitting to me in a way coming here, meeting you and your family, working for your father, this is definitely a road not normally taken."

"Do you regret coming here?" she asked.

"Absolutely not, coming here and meeting you is the best thing that's ever happened to me, I don't regret a moment spent with you or Clawdia." I replied.

"I love you Alex." Wendy said in a low tone pulling me closer to lean on my arm.

"Don't worry Wendy, we'll kill them, we'll kill them all." I said.

There was little said after that during our walk to Deep Woods, and even fewer encounters, it seemed word of our actions may have spread faster than I realized and people were battening the hatches so to speak. I meant every word of what I said and proved I was willing to back my word with deadly force back in Rogue Port so by now I imagine I was on Princess Peach's top ten hit list having killed no less than a dozen people in our search for Clawdia. Their lives meant little to me in the face of what had happened and if I had to kill a dozen, hundred, or even a thousand more, I would destroy anyone who stood between Clawdia and I had no doubt Wendy would be right beside me along with Iggy and Roy.

In a lot of ways the Koopa Kids, or Koopa Teenagers which was a more accurate term now, were a lot like any traditional family in the fact they fought with each other relentlessly and it could even get pretty violent at times but when an outsider threatened one they threatened all. They would set aside their petty personal differences and attack the threat with incredible brutality, even those of a smaller stature like Wendy had claws, hellasiously sharp teeth, and they knew how to use them, I was just glad to be with them and not against them.

After a few hours of walking the landscape began to change from grassy fields to patches of grass and rock that rolled lazily in small hills and gullies which was fortunate as it provided cover from Deep Woods which had begun to appear on the horizon. We stopped in one of the many gullies, still wet from recent rains and Iggy used a few hand signals to dispatch the Ninjis for recon, the only thing I hated about recon was having to sit and wait from them to return. I wasn't the only one who was restless though, even Iggy seemed to be on edge, we all knew why but no one said anything, we kept our heads low and from time to time Iggy would use a little periscope to peer over the edge of the gully. It seemed like an eternity of just sitting... and waiting... before Iggy finally signaled they were on their way back.

We were all on edge when the Ninjis returned eagerly awaiting their report and as expected the town in Deep Woods was heavily guarded on all sides by a considerable force that was quite heavily armed, so heavily armed in fact that it would likely prove impossible for our small group to infiltrate the compound unnoticed and too large for us to face on our own. When the Ninji reported that he had seen Clawdia being held in a fortified compound I practically had to pull Wendy back down into the gully and remind her that trying to take on all that force alone was a fool's errand.

"So what do we do?" Roy asked.

"How fast can these Ninjis move over open land Iggy?" I asked.

"These Ninjis? About 40 mph why?" he asked.

"Because I've got a fairly good scheme in mind, we're suppose to be an elite strike force, not a full blown army, but Bowser is and I don't doubt he'd roll out the full Koopa military for this. Send one of the Ninjis back to the castle to sound the alarm, have Bowser roll up in full force and start burning Deep Wood to the ground. We'll use the other Ninji for recon and when they try to move Clawdia we'll strike, we can use Bowser as a diversion to draw their attention." I said.

"Sounds like a good idea." Wendy said.

Iggy just nodded to one of the Ninji who returned the nod and scrambled out of the gully behind us and took off through the field, for a squat little creature with a star shaped body they could really haul ass, the Ninji sent back to the castle disappeared into the distance in no time. Once more we were forced to sit there and wait... just wait... holding Wendy close to me I tried my best to keep calm while resisting the same urge she had felt earlier to just run into Deep Wood and try to kill anything that moved. Time passed slowly, unbearably slowly without anyone saying anything, we just sat and waited, Roy growled to himself with his arms folded, Iggy played with his gadgets to pass the time, and I held Wendy who tried her best not to cry.

The longer it took the more agitated I became and I was about to say something rather nasty about Bowser when the Ninji we had dispatched earlier returned in such a rush he tripped over the edge of the gully falling headlong into a puddle of mud before scrambling to his feet to jump up and down frantically.

"Bowser's coming, Bowser's coming!" It said, I wasn't sure if it was male or female.

"What kind of force did he bring with him?"

"Yes." The Ninji said.

"Yes, what's that suppose to-"

"That means the military bases at home are a ghost town right now, he brought everything." Roy said.

That statement was soon backed by the feeling of a gentle but steady tremor that was slowly getting closer, soon I could hear the sound of feet marching along with the low rumble of engines. I peered out over the edge of the gully slowly seeing that Roy wasn't kidding, Bowser had brought every possible troop you could imagine, Hammer Brother, Ninji, Magi-Koopa, Goomba, Airship, Sniffit, Turtle, everything... including a few species I still couldn't identify, from the look on Bowser's face I'm glad I wasn't in his way either.

.

They had approached Deep Wood from the east, at least east by my point of view, and when they were about fifty yards away he stopped, just waiting. At first I couldn't tell what he was waiting for until a single toad appeared from inside the woods a few moments later, nervously approaching Bowser. There was a small exchange between the two which I couldn't hear but the Toad seemed to be steadfastly protesting something until Bowser incinerated him with a blast of fire then let out a loud roar signaling for the army to charge, and charge they did.

Bowser's soldiers charged into Deep Wood in such large numbers that I could see them moving even inside the trees like a steady wave and within a matter of minutes I could also hear the sound of fighting. Much like I expected Bowser followed his troops into the woods giving his position away periodically with huge bursts of fire that lit up the forest... literally... a few minutes into the attack the trees caught fire... wonderful...

Iggy had already sent the Ninjis in to scout the situation and keep us updated on what was going on, about ten minutes later one of the came running up frantically informing Iggy that most of the Deep Woods forces had moved to the front line of the conflict leaving the town guarded only by a skeleton force. We didn't need any other information, upon hearing this no signs or orders were given, we just climbed out of the gully and ran like hell towards Deep Woods with the Ninji in the lead.

We didn't slow or stop as we charged headlong towards the facility where Clawdia was being held and though I had to duck from time to time to avoid low hanging branches such was quickly followed by the sound of snapping and cracking due to Roy who never bothered to duck, he had a habit of running 'through' things. The ocean of trees soon gave way to a small town in a clearing that was a little more than a few thrown together wood and straw cabins surrounding a larger stone and mortar building with a heavily iron door in the front.

"Get out da way!" Roy yelled.

Our group quickly parted as Roy, having brought up the rear of our group continued running full force towards the iron door and when the two met there was a colossal impact that resonated over the sound of fighting not too far to the east. I just arched a brow slightly expecting Roy to charge through it like a bull but he didn't, he stopped, and the door didn't move. We all stood there as a slightly stunned Roy stumbled backwards a few feet as he cleared his head preparing to ram the door again. Before he was able the door let out a low groan and began to slowly tilt inward crashing to the floor with a loud CLANG!

Before we could move inside a six Toads armed with swords and spears tried to attack us. They made the unfortunate mistake of charging at us in a straight line which is incredibly stupid against opponents capable of hurling fire, needless to say within a few second they were all scorch marks on the ground, well all save for the one who tried to attack Roy. Roy let him get close enough to draw back for a swing, then pulled his foot up and stomped on the Toad's head with enough force his body buckled under the sound of multiple bones breaking, Roy just snorted as if such a feeble attack were an insult to him.

Like a shot we were all inside looking around what appeared to be a well stocked laboratory, there were tables filled with beakers, tubes, containers, all sorts of chemicals, and books lined the walls in haphazardly arranged shelves, but our attention was focused on the dozen or so toad scientists who were all frozen in place with looks of fear on their face. Their arms were filled with various objects as it appears we had caught them in the process of trying to pack up and leave.

"Where is she? I won't ask a second time..." I snarled through bared teeth.

"In the room over there." One of the scientist pointed dropping some glass beakers in the process.

The others remained around the entrance while I walked over to door against the left wall where the scientist had pointed, carefully I pressed my back to the wall next to it and carefully turned the knob and swung to door open keeping myself clear in the event any traps had been laid, there weren't. The room was cold, barely lit, and it took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the lack of light before I could make out a small figure in the center of the room with ropes tied around her arms binding her to the chair, I just looked back to the others and nodded. As I entered I could hear Roy lifting the door back into place as the scientists began to get frantic, I quickly checked behind the door in case there was anyone laying in wait... again there wasn't. There wasn't much to the room at all, just the chair Clawdia was tied to as well as a bowl that looked like it had been used for feeding. Clawdia wasn't moving as I approached and I started to fear the worst.

"Clawdia?" I said hesitantly... there was no reply, "Clawdia?" I said again.

She finally stirred slightly causing me to let out a huge sigh of relief, walking over I leaned down putting my hands on her shoulders but before I could say anything she tried to jerk away from me and began crying.

"Please don't hurt me anymore, please I can't take anymore!" she cried.

"Clawdia it's me Alex, it's daddy!" I said.

"Daddy... is that you?" she slowly looked towards me.

To the backdrop of loud screams dying away in gurgling chokes I brushed the hair out of Clawdia's face looking her over carefully in the dim light, even then I could see she was delirious, barely able to focus on me.

"Yeah it's me baby, it's daddy." I said.

I was about to pull the ropes from around her when the door to the room burst open as one of the scientists stumbled into the room in a panic, I turned to see what was happening as Roy, Iggy, and Wendy were slowly walking towards the terrified toad, their claws and teeth covered in blood as were the walls of the laboratory and what bodies remained were barely identifiable as such. Roy started to reach for the last toad when I caught his wrist.

"This one is mine." I said.

Roy made no contest to my claim as I picked my victim up by the throat, I let him kick and gasp for a moment trying in vain to get loose, then I decided to try something new. Having been able to summon fireballs without the use of a fire flower I was curious about what else I could do with my new found abilities, so with that thought in my mind I tried to channel electrical currents through my arm. My victim continued to struggle for a moment before he was slowly overcome by body jerks, then things really began to pick up when arcs of blue-white energy began flowing causing the toad to stiffen, he was barely able to let out a yell before becoming so electrified that I could see his bones for a brief moment before his body turned to ash with the remnants of his charred clothing falling to the floor. When I turned back to Clawdia Wendy had already untied her and was holding her in her arms.

"Clawdia?" she said, "Clawdia baby, it's momma, look at me."

"Mommy?" Clawdia said, barely able to lift her head.

"Alex something's wrong, they did something to Clawdia, they did something to my baby!"

Moments later Clawdia passed out sending Wendy into an all out panic as she dashed out of the room. I, along with everyone else, quickly followed after her as she ran through the woods in the direction of the fighting without thinking of the danger she could be putting herself in. Roy, Iggy, and I followed after her as best we could, fortunately everyone else seemed to be occupied with the dwindling combat that was taking place and not us. We passed several small groups of toads that were being quickly overwhelmed by Koopa in sheer numbers before finally catching up to Wendy who had managed to find Bowser in all this chaos.

"Dad something's wrong with Clawdia you've got to do something, please I think she's dying!" Wendy pleaded.

Bowser stopped fighting, immediately looking down at Clawdia for a moment before nodding to another Koopa wearing a shell designating him as a general and began making his way back through the lines with all of us hot on his heels. The trees soon gave way to the field where the koopa support units had remained as well as Bowser's personal airship that was waiting on the ground. We didn't even wait for the fighting to conclude or for the soldiers to make their way back to the field, we had Clawdia and we were heading back to Koopa Castle. Though he hadn't said anything since Wendy had approached him in the woods I could tell Bowser was as concerned for Clawdia as the rest of us, he may not have said it in words, but his deeds spoke volumes. On our flight back to the castle I overheard one of the engineers frantically telling Bowser that pushing the engines to 125% of their capacity could cause the whole propulsion system to overload only to be backhanded across the deck for his efforts.

Wendy spent the whole trip holding Clawdia's head against her chest so upset that she couldn't stop herself from crying anymore, I in turn held Wendy doing my best to comfort her as Iggy and Roy paced back and forth so much they nearly wore a hole in the deck. When we finally landed directly in the castle's courtyard Wendy dashed out of the airship like a shot with as were the rest of us as we all headed for the infirmary. It would seem that word travelled fast in the castle as we had barely gotten Clawdia onto a bed before the rest of the Koopa Clan showed up with Ludwig and my father Mortimer carrying an armful of equipment for which I had no idea what did what.


	9. Chapter IX

The entire Koopa family including its patriarch Bowser were in the infirmary with Wendy, Clawdia, and I as we all waited for Ludwig, Mortimer, and the doctors to do their best to figure out what was wrong with my daughter. No one spoke up, question why it was taking so long, or bothered the doctors for fear of delaying their work, but none of us left either, the whole Koopa Clan sat in the waiting room of the infirmary waiting to hear the new, any news. Several hours passed and it was early morning as many of us began to grow tired with a few of the Koopa Children even dozing off as they slumped down in their chairs, but when the door to the infirmary opened and my father stepped out we were all up on our feet like a shot.

"How is she Mortimer, is Clawdia going to be okay?" Wendy asked.

"She has a temperature with malaise, headache cough, delirium, and bloody nose. She's also suffering from leukopenia, a decrease in the number of circulating white blood cells with rhonchi in the lung base, borborygmi in the lower right abdomen, along with eosinopenia and lymphocytosis. The spleen and liver are enlarged, and there is elevation of liver transaminases. Tests are also strongly positive with antiO and antiH antibodies, and a diazo reaction in the blood cultures are positive for Salmonella typhi." he said.

"And for those of us without a PhD in biology?" I asked.

"She... she has Typhoid." he replied.

"What?" Everyone exclaimed almost in unison.

"Typhoid, how is that even possible?" I asked.

"The only thing I can figure is that the NTA infected her with it." he said.

"Why the hell would they infect Clawdia with Typhoid, to what end?" Wendy nearly shouted.

"To the end this isn't a normal case of Typhoid. She's only recently been infected and she's already showing symptoms of an advanced case. This strain of Typhoid is infecting her at an incredible rate and progressing faster than anything I've ever seen. Even though it can infect anyone it progresses at least five times faster when exposed to Koopa biology." Mortimer said.

"Isn't there anything you can do, what about using Koopa Magic to heal her?" Wendy asked.

"We tried that, when we infused magic into this strain it didn't slow it down, in fact it actually sped it up and it's viral efficacy has also been increased dramatically, we've had to put Clawdia under a bio-hazard quarantine, Ludwig thinks it was intentionally engineered that way." he said.

"Wait a minute, engineered, are you telling me..." I started.

"The NTA used Clawdia as a carrier for a genetically engineered bio-weapon targeted at the Koopa populace." Mortimer said.

"Can you cure her?" I asked.

"The normal treatment for Typhoid is Mucomelt-Forte which is the combination of Cefixime with Acetylcysteine but it hasn't shown any sign of slowing the progression, we've tried other treatments including fluoroquinolone treatments such as ciprofloxacin, a third-generation cephalosporin ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, and cefixime. We've even used antibiotics, such as ampicillin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin, but nothing seems to be working. Whatever they did to this strain of Typhoid they've made it resistant to all known forms of treatment." he said.

"That's not an answer!" I snapped.

"I don't know, we're still doing what we can to try to find a cure." he said.

"What are her chances?" Wendy asked.

"To be honest..." he looked down slightly adjusting his glasses, "with the speed at which the Typhoid is progressing unless we find a cure Ludwig and I estimate she'll die within the next six hours." he said.

Wendy couldn't even find words to speak with, she looked at Mortimer for a moment before stumbling backwards and falling on the floor in a complete state of shock. The next moment we were all stunned as Bowser the ever calm slammed his fist into the wall next to him with enough force to create a hole and sending chucks of dust and debris in all directions.

"This is an act of all out war," he snarled, "it's one thing to attack a kingdom, or a town, but this, this is an attack against my family. It's unpardonable and inexcusable, if Clawdia dies the Mushroom Kingdom will not be conquered it will be destroyed!" With that he stormed off down the hall and disappeared around the corner.

While the rest of the children looked on after Bowser wide eyed and slack jawed at such an emotional outburst, for him at least, I leaned down to help Wendy to her feet.

"Everything's going to be alright sweetheart, I won't let anything happen to our baby."

I couldn't even really understand anything she was saying due to how badly she was crying, but I did make out something about the NTA, Toad bastards, and Clawdia, all of which made sense to me. The NTA were Toad bastards for what they had done to Clawdia and even though I told Wendy I wouldn't let anything happen to her in truth I didn't know of anything I could do to help. If she did die I would be standing right next to Bowser helping him burn the Mushroom Kingdom to the ground, Mario Brothers or not.

At Moritmer's urging I took Wendy back to her... our room to try and get some rest even though I knew she would be able to sleep as much as I would... which was not at all but standing outside the infirmary door all morning wouldn't help either, it was best that we get out of the way and let the doctors do their job. The walk back to our room was a painfully slow one, my shoes felt as though they were lead weights, or maybe it was my heart that was so heavy, either way I left the weight of the situation bearing down on me with incredible force.

It was also during this time that I found out how truly loved Clawdia was by the people in the castle and I don't just mean the Koopa Clan. Several members of the Koopa Army swore to help us destroy the Mushroom Kingdom or die trying and a few passers by even shook their head mumbling they couldn't understand how someone could hurt such an innocent child. I knew that if the worst did come, that not only would we be up in arms, when word reached the people of the Dark Lands that the NTA had murdered Clawdia, a Koopa Princess, I had no doubt in my mind most of the kingdom would be right behind the army and on their heels, the very bowels of hell itself.

Never in my life had time passed as slowly as it did waiting for the doctors to try and find a cure for Clawdia, Wendy and I just sat on the bed waiting for any news at all about her condition. While Wendy continued to cry sporatically my feelings took a different route, the more I thought about the situation, the more I thought about what had been done to my little girl, the more the anger inside of my continued to build. Clawdia was just a child, a baby for god's sake, how could they do something like this to her, how could a group claiming to be fighting to end Koopa Tyranny as they put it victimize a child like this, even the Koopa Military didn't hurt children!

Almost absentmindedly I got up off the bed and walked to the window of the bedroom staring off into the darkened and perpetually overcast sky of the Dark Lands unable to pull my mind from the situation at hand. The anger inside of me was beginning to subside into a deep empty void, a void I don't would ever be filled again if Clawdia didn't pull through. She was my daughter, my baby girl, I couldn't begin to imagine my life without her. I had only known her a short time before the NTA had kidnapped her, but even in that short time we had had together I had come to love her more than anything else in my entire life, she was sweet, innocence, charming, adorable, and so loving.

She was flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood as it's been said. There is so much more to a child than most people realize, it's not just a child, offspring, or the result of a sexual encounter, for those that have a finite amount of time in life, a day when their spark will finally go out never to be ignited again a child is their future, their legacy. Everything you ever were passed down to the next generation, then the generation after, and so and so on, but for Clawdia it was more than that, she was the first in the third generation of the Bowser's line, she wasn't just the legacy of Wendy and I, but the entire royal family, she was... The Legacy of Koopa.

"Wendy, I... I don't know if I could bare to have anymore children if Clawdia... if she..." I couldn't even bring myself to finish the sentence.

"It wouldn't matter, I couldn't have anymore children with you anyway." she said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, turning to look at her.

"Do you know what I went through just to have Clawdia?" she replied.

"No, I don't" I said.

"Clawdia is a miracle child that by all rights shouldn't even exist."

"I... don't understand."

"Think about it Alex, Koopa are descended from reptiles, human from primates, the chances of even producing a child to begin with are astronomical, then there were all the problems I had during pregnancy."

"What kind of problems?"

"Violent morning sickness where I threw up so much I almost dehydrated myself, preeclampsia, toxemia, bleeding, there were days where I felt like I was going to die, then I went into premature labor at seven months, the doctors couldn't stop it, and afterwards they had to rush Clawdia off because of a number of health conditions resulting from our mixed genetics. I don't remember everything but the biggest problem was her body was producing both Type-B and Type-G blood and it was killing her."

"Well she obviously didn't die from it, how did they cure her?"

"Well technically they didn't so much cure her. Ludwig and your father spent the next two weeks losing sleep trying to figure out how to cure the problem until Mortimer finally found a solution."

"Mortimer found the solution? That's a surprise, it's usually Ludwig popping off with all sorts of new discoveries."

"Ludwig may be a genius but he spreads his study out over many different fields whereas your father focuses almost entirely on genetics, believe it or not he actually knows more than Ludwig in that area. Anyway, what Mortimer did was to somehow combine her two blood types into a completely new and unique type by altering her bone marrow but even then there were still problems. She spent the next year undergoing a complete blood transfusion every two months until everything took completely... honestly I don't think I could survive another pregnancy like that."

"Then we'll just have to make sure there's no need for one."

"How Alex, we're not doctors, we don't know anything about medicine or how to treat a condition like this."

"I don't know, I-"

The next thought was cut short my a knock at the door and we both looked at one another expectantly for a moment before I walked across the room and opened the door, outside there was a Koopa Turtle waiting for us.

"What is it, did they find a cure for Clawdia?" I asked.

There was a long moment of silence and the longer it went on the more anxious I got, I looked back at Wendy for a moment then back down at the guard who seemed reluctant to say anything.

"No... they think..." he swallowed hard before continuing, "they think she's dying."

At that I felt my heart sink, without even looking back I took off down the hall knocking the guard out of the way in the process, I was in a state of complete panic at this point, things were going crazy inside my head and I couldn't even think straight as I made a mad dash towards the infirmary clearing most of the castle in record time. When I arrived at my destination I found everyone gathered around the bio-hazard unit as Wendy came up directly behind me. For quite possibly the first time in my life I felt fear, I don't mean the kind of fear you experience from being startled, or facing some sort of phobia, I'm talking about the soul searing fear that makes you want to turn tail and run until you can't run anymore... but I couldn't. The steps towards Clawdia bed were short, yet this was the longest walk of my life and now I had to face the one thing I never dreamed I would have to.

There on the medical bed Clawdia laid hooked up to half a dozen different machines with no less than four IVs in her hands and arms. She wasn't moving, she wasn't even awake, the only sign of life coming from her little body was the slowly rise and fall of her chest as she struggled to breath, the only sound in the room the slow beep coming from the heart monitor beside her.

"I'm sorry, we did everything we could, it's only a matter of minutes now." Mortimer said walking up beside me.

"You did everything you could... did you?" I turned on him grabbed him by the collar of his white lab coat, "DID YOU? My daughter is dying and you're just standing there telling me you did everything you could?"

"You're damn right I did everything I could, she's not just your daughter she's my grand-daughter, she's family, and if you weren't my son I'd kick your ass for saying something like that!" He shot back.

Realizing I was lashing out at anger at someone who didn't deserve it I let go of my father's coat lowering my head slightly as I apologized for my actions, he just patted me on the shoulder with a slight nod of his head. I was starting to lose control, how can one truly describe the pain and anguish of having to watch your child die and not have the power to do anything about it, you can't, because there are no words for that kind of pain.

Once again the room fell into silence, even the mighty Bowser, King of all Koopa, Ruler of the Dark Lands, and would be Conqueror of the Mushroom Kingdom had been rendered powerless in the face of this... this atrocity. In trying to bring down the Koopa Kingdom the NTA had just sealed the fate of the Mushroom Kingdom and everyone in it, they were going to die, they would all die for this, ever last koopa loyal to Bowser would see to that. This wasn't going to be an attack or a conquest it was going to be a slaughter, the land would run red with toad blood for this.

Wendy held my arm so tight I could feel her claws cutting through the fabric of my shirt and into my skin, but I just didn't care, the only thing that mattered right now was laying in front of me dying and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it... not... one... damn... thing. The worst part of this whole travesty was just having to sit there and wait for the inevitable, wait for death. There were no words to describe my feeling, or the new found depths of hatred I was discovering for the Toad people, Bowser had threatened to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom if Clawdia died but that wasn't enough, nowhere near enough. I didn't care if it would damn me to the lowest levels of hell in the end or not but I would make it my life's mission not to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom, but to exterminate the entire Toad race from the face of the Mushroom World, they would all pay, every last one of them.

The beep of the heart monitor had been steadily slowly since Wendy and I had arrived, like some sadistic clock counting down the second to her death and then just like that... it stopped. Her chest rose one final time and she let out a small gasp as the monotone hum of the heart monitor filled the room. I could Wendy scream in the distance as my entire world collapsed around me, I thought there would be so much rage and anger but there wasn't, there was just numbing pain, emptiness, and loss.

No one tried to stop me as I entered the bio-hazard unit around Clawdia's bed, looking down at her motionless form I just stared for a time before slowly brushing her cheek with my hand. At the feel of her skin against my fingers it all came apart, and entire lifetime of emotional control, putting on a brave face for world and not letting anyone know how I truly felt, it all just flew to pieces. Even I began to sob and cry collapsing next to her bed as the strength drained from my knees, she was gone, my baby girl was gone...


	10. Chapter X

I felt as though my heart would tear itself in two as I held Clawdia's body in my arms, my child, my reason for living and been taken from me and I couldn't stop the pain I was feeling inside as I sat there on the floor rocking back and forth. I was completely out of control, angry one minute, in pain the next, empty after that, my emotions had taken me on an uncontrollable roller coaster ride from which I saw no end. Wendy had managed to make her way over next to me and was crying as hard as I was, many of Wendy's brothers had left the room unable to bear the sight of Clawdia but Bowser, Bowser had taken out most of the infirmary on the way out and could still be heard in the bowels of the castle.

The Mushroom Kingdom would never be the same after this, not after what had been done to us, we would reap a vengeance on them unlike anything that had ever been seen before, but that would come later, now... now was a time for grieving, a time of sorrow, the third generation of the House of Koopa had been ended before it could even begin in an act of blind hatred that even the Koopa had never committed... at least not yet. So much love and care had been put into keeping her alive, raising her, caring for her, and now all of that had come to nothing.

"Why God, why couldn't it have been me, why did my daughter have to suffer like this. She was an innocent child I would have gladly died in place of. You hear that Clawdia, I would have willing died if I had known it would save you. You were... are my precious baby girl and you always will be. I'll make them pay for what they did I promise you that, I promise."

Anger was beginning to well up inside of me to the point it was overwhelming my other motions and focusing my mind on a single goal... revenge. The pain, sorrow, and feelings of loss were slowly ebbing away and the only thing left in its place was a blinding hatred for the people who had taken my daughter from me and a desire for revenge that would only be satisfied when the last Toad corpse hit the ground.

"I'll make them pay Clawdia, I'll make them all pay." I mumbled.

"Make them pay for what daddy?"

"Pay for taking- WHAT?"

I jerked upright with such a start I almost dropped Clawdia in the confusion, I was in a complete state of shock. There in my arms Clawdia staring back at me with those big bright blue eyes that I never thought I would see again, at first I was shocked, then confused, followed by wondering if my mind had finally cracked under the strain and I was ready for a padded room with a jacket that zipped up in the back. I was speechless, moments ago I was holding the lifeless body of my daughter and now she was looking up at me giggling.

"What's wrong daddy, why are you looking at me so funny?"

"Wendy..."

"If you're hallucinating we're having the same hallucination." Wendy said.

"Clawdia is it really you?" I asked.

"Of course it's me who else would it be, you're silly daddy."

"And you the best thing I've ever seen."

The only problem Clawdia seemed to have at the moment was being in danger of being squashed between two ecstatic parents who were glad to see she was somehow still alive. Following this revelation we were assault by the entire Koopa Clan asking questions all at the same time making it impossible to understand anyone or anything followed by having to fend off about eight different doctors all trying to poke, prod, scan, and inspect Clawdia at the same time.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled, causing everyone to take a step back, "the answer is I have no clue and the doctors can check her out in just a minute, but for right now..."

Turning slowly to look at Clawdia with a silly expression on my face I took in a deep breath, pressed my lips against her stomach and blew causing a weird noise followed by kicking feet, waving arms, and wild giggling. This was followed by a big hug and sigh of relief from both Wendy and I before we finally allowed Mortimer and Ludwig to run some more tests on her to see if she was alright. This time the Koopa Clan didn't wait outside, everyone waited about five feet away in intense anticipation until Ludwig got annoyed by our close proximity and made us move at least fifteen feet away so he would have enough room to work and maneuver at the same time.

We were all talking amongst ourselves whispering this and that and trying to figure out what was going on despite the fact none of us had the slightest idea what had happened but frankly I didn't care so long as my daughter was okay, in fact if a meteor striking Koopa Castle, with us outside of course, was the only way to ensure her safety I'd be be operating a spotlight to guide the way. Every one of us was a bundle of nerves waiting for the results but we were in high spirits as there didn't appear to be any sign of illness, in fact she was such a chatter box the doctors were being delayed in their work enough trying to answer her questions that Mortimer had to politely shut her up with a lollipop.

"Well?" we all said at once as my father approached which actually startled him slightly.

"She's the picture of health, not only is the Typhoid completely disappeared, she's even been cured of a mild sinus infection she had a few days ago somehow."

The entire clan started hooting and hollering in celebration except for Ludwig who was just standing there a few feet back looking at me with a steady gaze which actually caught my attention mostly because that look always meant the wheels were turning upstairs, he was up to something. I looked around for a moment to make sure he was staring at me before I carefully unglued Wendy from my person so I could see what he was up to.

"Something wrong Ludwig?" I asked.

"Yeah you superman." he said.

"Excuse me?" I replied.

"Ever since you came back some really weird shit has been going on and I think you're the source of it. I want to run some tests to figure out-"

"Later." I said, cutting him short.

"Alex, you've been displaying very usual abilities, forming fireballs without the use of a fire flower, healing at an accelerated rate, and now I hear reports that you're creating electrical charges out of thin air and now Clawdia miraculously recovers? don't misunderstand I'm as happy as everyone else she's alive, but frankly by all rights she shouldn't be. We need to figure out what's going on with you, your exhibiting extremely strange and possibly unstable abilities." he replied.

"Look I feel fine when I get back from Lilliona you can... wait did you say accelerated healing?"

"Yes I did, correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Wendy slash you in the face at the races?"

"Yeah what's your point?"

"So where are the cuts, you should still have some deep lacerations in your face."

I moved my hand over my face where Wendy had slashed me and sure enough my skin felt as smooth as if I had never been injured, something like that should have taken at least a week or more to heal considering how deep it was. Now that I thought about it Ludwig was right, I was displaying odd abilities since my return, especially considering the incident with slamming into the tree during my 'lawn dart' episode which I had completely forgotten about until now, but at the moment I sure as hell wasn't going to mention it and add more weight to his case.

"Look, you can run the tests later but I've got to prepare for the invasion tomorrow."

"Invasion? The invasion of Lilliona isn't until the day after tomorrow."

I was about to mention something else when Bowser walked over to the two of us and informed me that the invasion had been moved to tomorrow due to recent events, before hugging Clawdia, then turning and walking out of the room.

"Don't tell me you can read mind now." Ludwig said.

"Good ears," I said, tapping one of mine, "overheard him talking to one of his generals, although maybe I should look into mind reading, that might prove fairly interesting." I said in a joking manner before making sure it was okay for me to take Clawdia with me back to Wendy's... our room, damn it, need to work on that. Wendy spent most to the trip back to our room making small talk with Clawdia before finally pulling her out of my arms without even asking, but far be it for me to come between a mother and her child so i just went with it.

"Daddy, what happened?" she asked.

"What happened to what?" I replied.

"You your hair is all black and stuff, I liked the white, it's pretty."

Having not seen a mirror since Bowser had applied his little make-up job combined with all the event of the past few days I had completely forgotten about the cosmetic job given to me before setting out on my mission to find Clawdia and make the NTA pay for what they had done.

"Oh that, just a little Koopa magic so daddy could sneak around unnoticed and find you, after all white hair may be pretty but it's real easy to spot too, it'll go back to being white again in a day or so."

"Will you still look so old?" she asked.

"No daddy will look young again too." I said.

"Speaking of age I never got around to asking, how old are you Alex?" Wendy asked.

I started to answer, then stopped, thought about it for a moment, then shook my head a little, "I'm not sure."

"You don't know how old you are?" Wendy asked with a quirked brow.

"Well I was twenty-eight when I came to the Dark Lands but that whole disappearing act, not remembering anything, I'm not sure if I aged in that... place or not, so I'm either twenty-eight or thirty-four, I'm not sure. What I am sure about is that after today's events I want to get a good night's sleep, I feel like something the cat dragged in."

In light of recent event concerning Clawdia instead of sleeping in her room which was adjacent to ours she slept in our bed directly between the two of us with an arm from both of us draped over her. She seemed even more happy than usual at the prospect of sleeping in bed with her parents tonight and kissed both of us on the nose with a small 'wuv you' before snuggling in to go to sleep.

Working brain right not yet... reboot... brain not working right yet. One of my least favorite times of the day, morning, that time when your body wakes up about five minutes before your brain and from the look of things Wendy was the same way. Instead of waking up to the sound of birds chirping as sunlight filtered in through the window as one might imagine we awoke to the sound of thunder, rain, and 'good morning dear' was replaced by a quick glance, some scratching, and a few grunts in each others general direction. Wendy stood up walking to the door and opened it taking a cup of coffee from a servant who was standing outside before slamming the door without so much as a thank you.

"Coffee, morning, must." she said walking back to the bed.

I looked at the door for a moment with one opened eye getting the rust out of the gears upstairs and managed to piece together that a servant was probably assigned to stand outside the door in the morning so Wendy could have a cup of coffee frist thing when she woke up. I made my way to the door before opening it to look down at the turtle who only rose about half a head above my waist. He was holding a metal tray with a rubber bottom lining upon which sat a small container of coffee and another cup, without even being order to do so he filled the second cup from the pot and held it up to me. I was at least nice enough to grunt at him before slamming the door and making my way back to the bed as well.

The two of us sat in silence for a time sipping our coffee as the caffeine took hold firing up the brain and with enough cells working properly to form a straight thought my mind immediately thought of Clawdia and I looked down to make sure she was alright wondering why the huge ruckus we had made getting up hadn't woken her. At first I was afraid something might have happened during the night but a quick visual inspection revealed her to be breathing normally with no signs of distress.

"Does she always sleep like that?" I asked.

"Yes, she's usually three step short of dea- hard to wake." Wendy quickly corrected herself.

Mentally reviewing my schedule for the day it mostly consisted of only one thing, preparing the troops for the invasion and conquest of Lilliona. I looked over at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was seven in the morning, clocks were quite handy considering the Dark Lands were always overcast and it was nearly impossible to tell the time of day by looking at sky. Now that I was 'officially' awake I kissed Wendy, then Clawdia who smiled and rolled over before heading to my old room to get dressed. I started to throw on and old pair of jeans and a t-shirt but considering the situation at hand I decided that at least a semi-militant look was in order for the occasion and settled on a pair of cargo pants and a camouflage shirt instead.

I politely avoided the breakfast table claiming I was too busy with preparations for the invasion and settled for a quick snack of cheese, bread, and milk but the truth of the matter is that I wanted to avoid the inevitable barrage of questions that would be leveled in my direction regarding Clawdia's miraculous recovery for which I had no answers, looking like an idiot wasn't high on my list of priorities. On my way to the kitchen area I had already seen the troops gathering outside in the parade area preparing themselves for the coming conflict as well and I thought it as good a time as any to get affairs in order, although little did I know at the time it would be several minutes before I arrived at my destination.

My first detour came in the form of Bowser who wanted to have words with me discussing what I announced to the troops upon my address to them which was customary of any commander prior to an engagement as well as a slight command change, or addition to be exact. Larry was going to be coming with Roy and I as well as Bowser wanted him to gain more field experience and considered this to be a low-risk fight. My second detour was one of the officers who stopped me in the hall to inform me he and the other commanders had a small surprise for me which obviously peaked my curiosity. The officer in question quickly motioned for his comrades to bring out their surprise and it turned out to be what looked like a solid black, lightly armored military uniform.

"Um, thanks I guess." I really didn't know how to react.

"Oh the look isn't the best part, you see when we thought Clawdia was going to... take a turn for the worst the guys and I got together with a few of the people down in the chemistry lab and had the outfit specially treated, it's fire retardant, we had planned to give it to you to help you take revenge on the Mushroom Kingdom, but I suppose an invasion will do just as well. It can't stop a fireball completely but it can soak up a lot of heat for you."

"Now that I like." I said.

With a smile, which was rare for me these days, I took the outfit and slipped into a side room to change. I quickly pulled my shell over my head which had become such a second nature for me to wear it almost felt strange now not to wear it, I changed out of my normal clothing and managed to fit myself into the outfit the officer had given me and quickly changed, handing my old clothes to one of the servants as I walked out looking myself over.

"Damn I look good." I said.

.

(Couldn't find 3D resources for a Koopa Shell)

With a big grin and a thumbs up the officers quickly dashed off in the direction of the parade grounds to get into formation, now with my new 'anti-mario' I was really starting to feel like a military commander and to a small degree I was actually looking forward to the coming confrontation. I had no doubt in my mind that once word reached Princess Peach about our invasion that she would send The Brothers to try and liberate Lilliona but this time, this time they were in for a nasty surprise. Ever since the fight in Rogue Port where Mario had turned almost turned me into a crispy critter I had been itching for a rematch with the Marios and a chance to prove myself to Bowser and now I was about to get it.

By the time I reached the parade grounds the soldiers that had been released to me for this campaign were already lined up in neat rows standing at attention in the midst of a light rain. The parade ground was little more than open field outside the western wall of the castle designed for both military parades and for commanders to give their soldiers speeches prior to military engagements with a dais just outside the door leading out of the western wall so the commander could stand above the soldiers to be seen by the back rows of soldiers.

The bulk of the forces were made up of turtles which also appeared to comprise the bulk of Bowser's military forces in general, there were also some Goombas, Sniffits, Shyguys, Hammer Brothers, and a small group of Lakitu for aerial recon. The other thing I was thankful for was that we no longer had to sneak around and try to avoid open conflict, this time open conflict was at the heart of our operation and after what had happened to Clawdia I was looking forward to busting some heads. Next came the new address that Bowser had instructed me to give the troops as the result of recent events, I had never been that comfortable with public speeches but considering my current position I suppose it was something I was going to have to get used to.

"Why are we here today?" I asked, walking up to a Goomba in the front line.

"To conquer Lilliona?" he seemed somewhat confused about my question.

My only response was to arch a brow slightly, then I asked the same question of the Shyguy standing next to him.

"To crush the worthless Mushroom Kingdom!" he answered.

Once again responding indirectly with a slight tilt of my head I turned on my heel returning to the dais where I would make my address, I paced back and forth a little trying to make it look as though I was in deep contemplation when in fact I was trying to figure out how to start my speech.

"Why are we here, to conquer Lilliona, to crush the worthless Mushroom Kingdom? While both those answers are correct, they don't cover the full scope or magnitude of the duty with which we have been tasked. This isn't just a mission of conquest, we have been entrusted by Bowser, King of the Koopa, with the expansion of the kingdom and his glory and honor, it is our duty to secure these new lands on behalf of his majesty and ensure the continued prosperity of Dark Lands and those herein, we are the hand of Bowser and we must not, cannot fail in this endeavor.

There is also the matter of unaddressed grievances against our kingdom, as many of you many have heard my daughter, grand-daughter of your mighty sovereign was recently kidnapped by the NTA and subsequently recovered by an operation I myself personally lead allow me now to, once and for all, set the record straight about what happened. The NTA did not kidnap Princess Clawdia for ransom or political leverage, they took her and infected her with a highly contagious illness that was engineered to target the Koopa population and wipe them out, they attempted to use biological warfare to bring this kingdom and all those within to their knees, and then their graves.

They did not want to conquer us, they wanted to destroy us to the last man, woman, and child. While Bowser had originally planned to conquer Lilliona and force those within to leave there is a debt owed by the Mushroom Kingdom for the attempt on the life of our beloved princess, a debt that can only be repaid in one fashion, only one coin that will satisfy the House of Koopa... blood. When we arrive in Lilliona your orders are now to kill every Toad that you encounter." With that I ended my speech, short but hopefully effective. There was a long silence following my address because though many of the soldiers had been forced to kill in past campaigns they were still to a degree unaccoustom to such outright aggression, until recent times most campaigns involved the incapacitation of opposing forces rather than death, but the attacks against Clawdia by the NTA had escalated things to an unacceptable level and accounts were being settled with a vicious finality.

I once stood at a fork in the road of my life, upon one path was the life I had lived since childhood filled with work, bills, and the daily grind of life that many of us have come to know so well. Down the other path was uncertainty, violence, death, and destruction, but at the same time it offered a chance for something so few of us in life ever receive, greatness, true greatness. I now stand upon the threshold of the future with the ability to reshape the face of the land for generations to come. I do still think about my life as a mundane cable installer and what I left back on Earth from time to time, asking myself why I chose to leave it all behind for a life of violence, war, and conflict, but last night when I looked over at Wendy and my daughter sleeping peacefully next to me it finally came to me.

When I first agreed to become the right hand of Bowser my motivations were purely personal, a desire for wealth and power, but in time those goals had evolved and my first real taste of a large scale sustained war with the Stinits had really opened my eyes to the horrors of war. For a long time I continued to fight this fight without knowing deep down why. The first revelation had come in the form of realizing how much I wanted to be with Wendy but after the whole disappearing act and returning to discover I was now a father my reason evolved into something even greater.

I wasn't just fighting for myself, or even Bowser for that matter, I was fighting for the future of my family. I was fighting for a future where the Dark Lands imported out of desire for foreign goods, not a need of them, I was fighting for the autonomy of my kingdom and its people. As much as I was loath to admit it the Dark Lands were dependent on foreign powers for a lot of the things needed for day to day survival. Were those supplies ever to be withheld from us it could have a serious and long lasting impact that would likely force Bowser to engage in wars to secure needed resources for our continued survival.

With the conquest of Lilliona our own resource base would be expanded reducing our dependency on foreign powers for our needs and it would also give us prime positioning for future campaigns of expansion. Even in the short time I had been in Mushroom World my life and understanding of how governments worked had expanded far beyond what it ever would have back on Earth... Earth, a place and life that were becoming a faded memory with the recesses of my mind. I guess what President Lincoln said was true 'It is not the years in your life that matter as much as the life in your years.'

"What about any Koopa that might be living in Lilliona?" a soldier asked bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Though they may not serve Bowser they are never the less Koopa, they are not to be harmed. Now let's move out, we have a town to conquer."


	11. Chapter XI

With such a large force using the pipe network was out of the the question and thus a full day's march across open land would be required for myself and the three hundred soldiers with me. Three hundred soldiers may not have seemed like much when you think about past wars and conflicts on Earth, especially in modern times, but you also have to take into account the population of Mushroom World according to the last census was only a few million people, not like the seven to eight billion back on Earth, so for this venture and our target three hundred soldiers was a sizable force. We also had a number of elite forces on standby to transport by pipe in the event we ran into trouble but I planned on not having to call out the reserves for this.

Roy, Larry, and I lead the march, we had decided considering the number of soldiers we had the best approach would be to make a straight line for our target as fast as possible so the Mushroom Kingdom wouldn't have time to sound the alarm before we had already secured our position. We pushed the soldiers hard the first day since we wouldn't arrive in Lilliona until the next day to make the best of the time we had. I also made a tactical change in the formation of the forces instead of the supply caravan, which wasn't that large, bringing up the rear I positioned our forces around it so that it was protected on all sides in the unlikely event we were attacked before reaching our destination.

As we marched through the Dark Lands word had apparently gotten out that something was taking place and many of the locals came out to see what was happening at first, then when it got around that part of the army was on the move many of them started cheering us on and waving by the wayside as we moved, but we maintained our military discipline and continued on. Near the border marking the separation of our southern border from the northern Mushroom Kingdom the clouds overhead began to give way to the bright blue sky of what was now mid-morning and I noticed I was starting to grow use to life in the Dark Lands as the sunshine annoyed me slightly as it got brighter.

Much of our march during the morning was rather uneventful as we used the Lakitu as aerial scouts which allowed us to avoid any traveling locals during our march, which mostly consisted of just stopping before we got into visual range of them, I passed the time with Roy and Larry through small talk and found out that Larry was actually quite the artist spending most of his free time either chasing girls or in his room painting. In a way I was glad to have a chance to talk with him, I hadn't had much time to really get to know him since my arrival here due to everything that had happened.

During our little chat session I learned that Roy damn near had his own harem going with girls competing with one another over the 'Muscular Koopa Prince' as he described himself, who didn't discourage such in fact there were times where he had actually encouraged it for his own amusement, but thus far nothing sounded too serious. Apparently he 'wrapped the weasel' as he put it to avoid attachment via children. It was well into an uneventful afternoon when one of the Lakitu scouts brought information about another traveling group of Toads, I was about to call for a troop halt when Larry offered up some rather interesting information, this group that was traveling along one of the main roads were members of the Mushroom Trading Guild. Apparently the MTG dealt mostly in precious metals, gems, and other rare goods.

Roy and I looked at one another for a moment before saying at the same time, "Plunder!"

Upon further questioning the Lakitu revealed there were only about a dozen guard with the group which was actually a small caravan, obviously not intending to run into a full blown Koopa army so Roy and I decided to take fifty troops and leave Larry in command of the remaining forces, much to his dismay, in order to hijack their shipment. The soldiers with us were instructed to leave their travel packs taking only their weapons so they could move faster. I dispatched a dozen of the soldiers to circle both in front and behind their current position leaving twenty six soldiers for Roy and I, though the two of us alone were more than a match for a dozen Toad guards.

With everything in place we all took off at a dead run towards our destinations and it wasn't long before the caravan came into view, there were two horse drawn wagons made of wood with the MTG seal and six guards on either side. We were barely half way there when one of them pointed at us, three of the guards jumped on either side of each wagon and the drivers whipped the reigns causing the horse to take off at a run. They didn't get very far before the forces I had dispatched ahead of them cut them off causing them to turn around only to find that path cut off as well with soldiers quickly encircling them to prevent further escape attempts.

Roy and I quickly caught up to the caravan and slowed to a walk as the rest of the soldiers circled around reinforcing the positions of their comrades. The twelve Toad guards were doing their best to stand their ground looking fierce and the actually seemed to be doing a good job not appearing scared or skittish like I had expected, spears were pointed in every direction making for a very tense situation. I could have easily killed every one of these Toads with virtually no effort, but even I hadn't reached the point of having so little regard for life that I killed without reason, so I decided to try approaching the situation diplomatically.

"Good afternoon Toads, let's make this short and simple I want your goods not your lives, so if you'll kindly lower your weapons and vacate the wagons we'll be on our way."

"Why should we give you dirty Koopa anything? You're nothing but a bunch of thieves and bandits." The driver retorted.

"Because I said I wanted your good, not your lives, but if you keep back talking me like that I'll have no hesitation about taking both, tell me something, is there truly anything in that wagon worth dying for, goods can be replaced, lives cannot." I replied.

My threat was backed by raising my hand up next to me and summoning a fireball as big as the drivers hat. At this all of the Toads looked in my direction and I could see they were all more scared of me than they were the troops of even the fireball, most of the guards there had at least a half dozen or more visible scars so I had no doubt the were experienced fighters but something about me had really scared them. The driver finally got down off the wagon and motioned for the guards to surrender their weapons which were quickly collected. I motioned for one of the soldiers to man the other wagon while I got up into the driver's seat of the first and took hold of the reigns.

"Well if anything I am a man of my word you won't be harmed for co-operating, but as to the remark about Koopa being nothing but dirty thieving bandits, far be it for me to not to live up to the Koopa stereo-type, men, collect their clothes too, have a nice day." I said, whipping the horses in the direction of the other troops.

Leaving sixteen naked Toads huddled down in the middle of the road Roy, how had taken a seat next to me prior to departure, was grinning from ear to ear as we rode back. Even though Bowser hadn't given us any instructions to loot and plunder on our way he also hadn't given us any instructions not to, plus if this proved to be a good haul it would add another feather in my cap for what I was secretly working towards. Roy's grin eventually turned into a bolstering laugh and I finally broke down and asked him what was so funny.

"The clothes, stealing their goods was sweet, but that, that was just sadistic, hahahahahaha!"

"We're dirty thieving bandits remember?"

It was only a few minutes before we returned with the wagons, Larry along with the rest of the troops were looking in our direction eagerly wondering what kind of loot we had brought back, for that matter I was wondering what kind of loot we had brought back too. I knew we couldn't take long to inspect our newly acquired goods but never the less a quick look was definitely in order so I brought the wagons to a halt a few yards in front of the curious troops and hopped down with Roy and Larry who quickly fell into step next to us as we moved to the back. I was the first inside placing my foot on the step to pull myself up and open the door.

The walls of the wagon were lined with a number of wooden chests and other smaller containers but the things that caught my eye right off the bat were several rolls of colored silk secured to a small shelf near the front so I approached them running my fingers over the material admiring the texture and craftsmanship, I was also thinking there was far more than enough material here to make Wendy one hell of a fine dress when I heard Larry gasp followed by a loud 'Dayum!" from Roy. I glanced over doing a quick double take as my eyes widened upon seeing their discoveries, they had both opened one of the chests on either side of the wall, Larry was kneeling over a chest full of gold bars while Roy had found a small chest full of gems, rubies, and various precious stones both of which were worth a small, well probably a large fortune.

"Good lord there must be a king's ransom in here and they only had twelve Toads guarding it?" I said.

"Twelve Toads are normally enough to protect something like this from the average roadside bandits they'd find in these parts, Kingdom Guard has become quite good at hunting down and arresting highwaymen." Roy answered.

"True, most of them did have battle scars so obviously they knew how to fight, Kingdom Guard you think?" I asked.

"Probably privately contracted security, they're more effective than Kingdom Guard and usually have a lot more combat experience, although I doubt facing down a small Koopa army is something they were prepared for." Larry commented.

We quickly checked the rest of the containers and found most of them to contain various items of value such as perfumes, oils, richly decorated parchments, it finally stuck me that from the look of things this wasn't a normal cargo, judging from the contents I'd bet money this shipment was headed for Peach's castle itself, silk most likely for dresses, perfumes, oils, fancy parchment, all of it seemed to have a 'royal' nature to it. My attention was then drawn to a small box in the front I had overlooked which I carefully picked it up, upon opening it my suspicions were confirmed.

"Well would you look at that." I said.

The other came over to see what I was talking about as their eyes widened in surprise, and probably a touch of greed, as they saw a crown just like the one Princess Peach wore encrusted with gems which shined brilliantly, we had just hijacked a load of goods belonging to the princess herself.

"Peach's crown." Larry said, reaching out to touch it.

"More like Princess Wendy's crown now," I said snapping it shut before Larry could touch it, "I found it I'm claiming it as a present for Wendy."

I placed it back on the shelf where I had found it and we made our way out of the wagon, a quick inspection of the second wagon revealed less valuable cargo, but never the less it had worth. There were rare herbs, spices, high quality food items easy to transport such as cheeses and wines, although we did find one chest filled with coins that had already been minted which would be easy enough to melt down and re-mint into Koopa Coins. This little plundering venture turned out to be well worth the effort, an effort that would add some serious shine to our report when it reached Bowser. With everything checked over and accounted for I ordered the wagon doors sealed with locks, keeping the only keys with me citing commander's privilege to ensure nothing was stolen before having them grouped with the supply unit as I gave the order to resume the march.

The naked man group we had left on the road had already disappeared by the time we got back to the main road, we continued on for the rest of the day and into the evening without anything of any real note happening. When the sun had disappeared behind the western horizon allowing the stars began shining in the darkened night sky I called for our group to make camp for the night. In short order there was a small village a tents arranged rather haphazardly in the field as the soldiers started to settle in for the night making campfires as the supply unit prepared our meals for the night. I was hoping it would be something a little more appetizing than the field rations I had been snacking on throughout the day as I assigned small three man groups to patrol the edge or little tent village in rotating shifts which would continue throughout the night and into the next morning until we broke camp.

I hadn't actually seen the tent I would be sleeping in until now as it had already been packed for me by the supply unit the night before we left on this campaign but it was quite the surprise to say the least, it wasn't just some little pup tent like the soldiers, it was roughly ten feet tall, fifteen feet wide and being put together by the soldiers without me even order them to do so, the icing on the cake came when I saw them carrying pieces of a metal bed frame and mattress inside.

"Being a commander has its perks huh?" Roy said, walking up next to me.

"It sure does," I said, "you brought the maps right?"

"Yeah." Roy said.

"Good have them brought to my tent, I want to go over the plan again before tomorrow to make sure we have all our koopas in a row." Now I was even starting to talk like them replacing the word ducks with koopas.

Once everything was in place about fifteen minutes later Roy and Larry met with me in the tent to discuss the final steps of our attack before we prepared for the assault the next morning, we were just about to start going over things when a trio of soldiers entered the tent carrying trays filled with a variety of fresh hot food and three containers of fresh water.

"That was fast," I remarked, "they cooked all this in fifteen minutes?"

"No the meals for the commander or commanders in this case are cooked before the campaign and dry sealed in air tight packages, they only take a few minutes to reheat." Larry said.

My meal was a steak that had to have been at least two pounds, a baked potatoe with butter, sour cream, a packet of salt and pepper, with a generous portion of baked beans in a bowl, Roy and Larry mostly had a wide variety of meats like steak and sausage with a small side of vegetables. The strategy session was put on hold as the three of us all did our best impression of a steam shovel, there wasn't any talking during dinner as we were all extremely hungry. About 3.2 seconds later, actually about five minutes, we were all leaning back in our chairs enjoying the feeling of a full stomach when something occurred to me.

"You know what that meal was missing, dessert." I said.

"Uh Alex, officers might get the best meals but normally even we don't carry desert." Larry said.

"No, but it was provided for us never the less." I said with a wink.

I left without an explanation as to what I was up to, a few minutes later I returned with a fourth of a wheel of cheese and bottle of wine from the second wagon we had plundered earlier, Roy and Larry just grinned broadly holding up their glasses which I promptly filled placing the cheese within arms reach of the three of us so we could cut off pieces at our leisure. With the cheese, entire bottle of wine, and several loud belches out of the way we all stood up looking over the map on the center of the table that contained a fairly detailed drawing of Lilliona and the surrounding land which was, surprise, fields.

"Alright, like we discussed earlier we're not going to be conquering this town, we're going to be exterminating it. Since we're approaching from the north," I pointed to the map, "our primary concern in the beginning will be securing the port south of town to ensure that nobody escapes by boat or ship, next we need to set up small groups of soldier to the north, east, and west of town to catch anyone trying to escape while we move in, in force."

"Don't forget they do have a sewer system under the town, we need to block access to that as well before anything thinks to run down there, but considering the only entrance inside town is in the town square that should be easy enough to cut off. Recon says the town is only protected by a militia force of about three dozen which are little more than villagers with spears so I don't anticipate any serious resistance there." Roy said.

"What about the hot air balloon?" Larry asked.

"What hot air balloon?" we both asked looking at him.

"This one," Larry said taking a small flier out of his shell and placing it on the table, "found it in the pocket of one of the Toads you stripped earlier, they're probably trying to make more money."

"Recon didn't say anything about a hot air balloon." I said.

"Our last recon report about Lilliona was a few days before the races, this flier is dated yesterday." Roy said looking it over front and back.

"This could present a problem, we have aerial recon but no air power if they manage to get that thing in the air before we can secure it." I said.

"Yes we do," Roy corrected, "the Lakitu can hurl Spinies with amazing accuracy if need be, they could take out a hot air balloon with little trouble assuming it even gets airborne."

"Good, then we have that route covered as well. It's paramount that we don't let anyone escape they all have to die as payment for the attempt on my Clawdia's life, anything else we might be missing?" I asked.

The long moment of silence that followed indicated that we had likely covered all the viable routes of escape in the upcoming fight... massacre, so the next order of business was getting a good night's sleep. Once again much to Larry's dismay he got stuck with taking the glasses and dished back to the supply unit as something Roy described as the duties of a 'junior officer' which was really just an excuse to pawn the job off on him. We went our separate ways, once I was alone I stripped down to my boxers neatly folding my new uniform which I placed next to my bed with my shell on top. Having an actual bed in the field was actually something I was looking forward to as I had first thought I'd have a bedroll just like the soldiers... some things I'm still getting familiarized with, like the perks of command. Slipping under the covers I promptly passed out like a light with my full stomach acting like a natural sedative.


	12. Chapter XII

Another bright and cheerful dawn invaded my senses the next day rousing me from a dreamless slumber with the sound of chirping birds and various scents from flowers I wasn't that familiar with. I could already hear the camp beginning to move around me as I managed to dress myself, I was just sliding my shell over my head after dressing myself when a soldier walked in with my breakfast on a platter, a large plate filled with eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes with syrup, another packet of salt and pepper, and topped off by a fresh cup of coffee, at this rate I'd end up waddling into battle. I took a seat in front of my meal and took a moment to savor the aroma, whoever the chef was they really knew what they were doing the food smelled as fresh as the day it had been cooked causing my mouth to start watering, without further delay I started to chow down. With breakfast out of the way I exited my tent belching as I gave orders for it to be taken down, Roy and Larry arrived a few minutes later.

"Well this is it guys we'll be arriving in Lilliona in a little bit, ready to spill some Toad blood in Bowser's name?" I asked.

"I was born ready." Roy answered, cracking his knuckles.

Roy's response came in the form of a low growl.

I gave orders to dispatch fifty soldiers in a wide eastern arc around the town so that they could strike the port securing it at roughly the same time the main invasion started, the soldiers were still breaking camp it would be a little while before the main force was on the move again. On the advice of Roy I dispatched one of the Lakitu to survey the town from the air being told their eyesight was sharp enough to see things at altitudes high enough nobody would notice them, as it turned out their glasses weren't for vision correction but actually vision enhancement. Thus far things were proceeding exactly as planned, by the time the scout returned reporting nothing of note we were ready to move.

I could tell the soldiers were anxious, as was I, about what was to come but my anxiousness was actually a form of excitement because I knew something like this would draw the attention of The Brothers, something I'd been looking forward to for a long time. Mario had humiliated me during our first encounter at Rogue Port making revenge a top priority to me. We began our march at a brisk pace, it was less than an hour before the village started to come into view in the distance so I quickly gave orders for three units to take up position outside the village as planned as well as dispatching several Lakitu to make sure the hot air balloon stayed grounded while the rest of us moved in on the town itself.

It didn't take any time at all for the people to spot us resulting in many of them screaming as they ran into their homes to lock the doors, I took off at a dead run with the soldiers only falling slightly behind with the intent of making it into the village before anyone got the idea of using the sewer system to escape but with the town square devoid of citizens by the time we got there it didn't appear as though anyone had, to be on the safe side I dispatched three groups of five soldiers to go down and check things out. I quickly surveyed my surroundings, the soldiers outside town were in place, the port had been secured with all vessels accounted for, the Lakitu were hovering in the air, and the sewers were being searched, everything according to plan. No sooner had I finished looking things over than a single door to my left opened from which an elderly looking Toad appeared, the soldiers were about to attack when a motioned for them to hold their positions.

"Why have you come to our peaceful town Alexander, we have nothing of value here for you to plunder, we're simple farmers and fishers who have no quarrel with you." The Toad said as he approached.

"Who the hell are you?" I responded.

"My name is Nermer I'm the mayor here in Lilliona." he replied.

"Well Nermer, contrary to what you think you in fact have a lot for us to plunder, you land, your homes, pretty much everything in this town is now under the sovereign rule of King Boswer Koopa."

"We can't fend off a force like this we'll leave without resistance, just don't hurt us please."

"Sorry old top not good enough, everybody's gotta go and I don't mean on foot."

"What? But why, we haven't done anything to you."

"You personally no, but citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom kidnapped my daughter and tried to kill her, a crime of that magnitude can only be repaid in one way and you're the unfortunate saps stuck footing the bill. Kill'em all!" I yelled raising my arm into the air.

Nermer tried to run back into his house but only made it about half way before he was ventilated via spear from three different soldiers, as soon as the chaos began many of the villagers came out of their homes trying to flee town as predicted but they found troops waiting for them on all sides who cut them down without mercy or hesitation. Considering what a joke of a fight this was I mostly stood in the center of town using fireballs to either incinerate people or knock them down so the soldiers could spear them. Toads were screaming and dying in every corner of the town and soon the streets were running red with blood, literally, just as I had predicted it was an outright massacre, at a glance I'd say fifty to sixty people were either dead or dying in about ten minutes, I was however nice enough to incinerate the people who hadn't quite died yet so they wouldn't be suffering anymore, victory was already assured here this wasn't a battle, it was the precursor for the battle that was to come.

Roy was in the process of stomping on one of the last surviving Toads when our attention was drawn by a loud crash and we saw one of the turtles go flying through a window out into the street with a fractured shell, a small group of soldiers had gathered around one of the houses but they seemed rather reluctant to go inside. This was a rather interesting turn of events to say the least, it seemed that there might be a small challenge here in Corpseville after all. With Roy and Larry in step behind me I motioned for the soldiers to back away as I approached the house causing all the excitement. Stepping inside I saw why, there in the back of the living room was a rather large Hammer Brother even by their standards holding his hammer as he stood in front of a small Toad women who was scared half to death

"Back off man, I don't wanna hurt you but I will if I have to." he said.

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to hammer?" I asked.

"You're... you're Alexander right?" he replied.

"No I'm not just Alexander, I am Alexander Franklin Magnus, right hand of Boswer, terror of the Mushroom Kingdom, and now conqueror of Lilliona, what do you think you and your little hammer could possibly do to me?" I said.

"Anything it has to." he said.

"Look, you're Koopa I have no quarrel with you, just step aside and let me do my job you can leave no problem." I said holding my hands out, but when I took a step forward I was greeted by a warning swing from his hammer.

"I said back off man, ain't nobody coming near my family, nobody!" He said becoming more agitated by the second.

"Your family? Wait a minute-" almost as if on cue a baby began to cry in the room he seemed to be guarding, "Family? You mean you and this Toad... that baby..."

"Yeah that's right, I married a Toad and so long as I can move ain't none of you gettin' near my little girl, you'll have to kill me first!" he said, pointing his hammer at several of us.

His little girl... this way by and far not something I had expected to encounter here in Lilliona of all places, from what I had heard Koopa and Toad marriages weren't unheard of, but never the less extremely rare. Worst of all I found parallels between this Hammer Brother and myself in ways I didn't like, it made me feel things I didn't want to feel, a father protecting his wife and little girl, afraid for their lives, willing to die protecting them. For a brief moment in the back of my mind I saw myself holding a hammer with Wendy and Clawdia behind me, surrounded by the NTA as I tried desperately to protect them, taking in a deep breath I quickly pushed the image out of my mind.

"Take your family and leave, now." I said.

"H-How do I know this isn't a trick to get me to let me guard down, how do I know you won't kill us when we try to leave?" he said, seemingly confused.

"Because I'm not telling you this as a soldier, I'm telling you as a father who almost lost his own little girl recently, take you family and leave. I was sent here to kill every Toad in town but none us expected this, I'm granting your wife exemption by reason of marriage and your daughter has Koopa blood, she's safe." I said.

"Say so all of them can hear it." he said, pointing his hammer towards the door.

"Listen up people!" I said raising my voice, "We've got a Hammer Brother in here with a Toad wife and kid, I'm granting them exemption from execution by reason of marriage, any of you try to touch any one of them I'll skin you alive myself!" With that I took a step back from the door holding out hand out toward it.

The young Toad woman ran into the back appearing a few second later with their daughter wrapped in a blanket in one arm and a small baby bag in the other, the only possession they took with them as they left. The Hammer Brother made his way out of town cautious pointing his hammer at anyone he thought was to close. As the northern patrol started to approach them, having been to far away to hear me, Roy gave a quick hand motion and they backed away before things got out of hand, once they were clear the family took off running getting as far and away as fast as they possibly could.

"What are you gonna tell King Dad?" Larry asked.

"The truth, that I let a Toad woman go because she was married to a Koopa and they had a child together, if he decides to punish me for that then it's something I'm willing to accept. Besides, this hit a lot closer to home that I'd have liked." I said.

"How?" Larry asked.

"A father fearing for the life of his daughter, willing to kill anyone to protect her or die trying, sound familiar?"

I didn't even wait for a response from Larry I just walked away trying to shake the image from mind that I had seen earlier, a battle was coming soon and I needed to be clear headed or else I wouldn't be at my best, not being at my best would only spell defeat. Things had already gone too far but I was too involved to let my personal feeling cloud my judgment now, I needed something to take my mind off things, that something came in the form of one of the soldiers as most had started to loot the houses already... would have to deal with that in a minute.

"Lord Magnus look at this." he said holding a small white globe in his hands as he walked up to me.

There was some sort of swirling color inside the globe that he was holding that looked as though it was trying to form some sort of image without much success, when I took it from the soldier the image solidified almost immediately and I found myself face to face with Princess Peach as we both stared at each other in shocked amazement for a moment.

"Lord Magnus?" she said, "What are you doing in Lilliona?"

"Conquering it in the name of King Koopa?" I asked sarcastically.

"What? This is an outrage I won't stand for this! Where is Mayor Nermer?" She demanded.

Looking around for a moment I located the bloody corpse of the former mayor, grabbed him by the vest and held him up so Peach could see him for herself.

"You hear that Nermer, the princess wants to talk to you," before simply dropping him on the ground again, "sorry your royal hin-ass I don't think he's up to talking right now."

"Y-you killed him?" she asked wide eyed.

"Actually we killed everyone, well almost everyone, nice town you got here Corpseville."

"Why... why would you kill all those innocent people?"

"Look tits- er toots I'm just following orders, you got a beef take it up with King Koopa I don't have time for this shit, over and out ya blond bitch." I said, stuffing the globe in my pocket.

"What is that?" Roy asked.

"How the hell should I know, don't you?" I said.

"Nope, never seen it before in my life, might wanna let Ludwig take a look at that." He said.

"I'll be sure to drop it off later right now we need to batten down the hatches, having just wiped out a whole village we can expect a visit from The Brothers pretty damn quick, I image this is gonna get real ugly real fast."

I ordered some of the soldiers to dig a mass grave to dump all the bodies into while giving orders for the supply unit to be moved into town and secured, for the moment I was content to find their warehouse inspecting what kind of on hand food stuffs or other items of interest we could transport back home later on. Now that we were no longer wiping out the population I decided it was time to size up our new acquisition. Being the largest building next to the port the warehouse wasn't that hard to find, after Roy snapped the lock off the door the three of us walked inside and found ourselves standing in an old gray stone building about half the size of a football field lit by overhead lights, from the look of things the former residents of Lilliona weren't doing to badly for themselves.

The inside of the warehouse had been carefully organized with everything lined up in neat rows or along the old beat up metal shelves that lined the walls, sacks of oat and grain, bundles of wheat, more cheese, dried and salted fish, beef jerky which I decided to sample, tomatoes, milk, butter, the more I looked the more I found soon realizing what a boon all of this would be to the Dark Lands as well as the fact the warehouse was refrigerated... I was getting cold. It was obvious they had more than they needed to survive, likely storing more for trade or taxation as word had it Peach allowed town not overflowing with coins to pay their taxes with goods, but this was one tax she wouldn't be collecting. Most of the food would be shipped home leaving just enough for the Koopa who would eventually migrate here to help turn this into a productive town once more.

"Be sure to add that we'll need cold storage units to the... the... ACHOO... report, must be the cold let's get out of here." I said.

Larry nodded in response as we made our way out of the warehouse, I sniffled a few times thinking to myself the last thing I needed right now was to catch a cold in the middle of a military campaign. Looting and plundering was in full swing by the time we got back outside with soldiers running everywhere, and I could hear all sorts of things breaking and cashing as they looked for valuables. It seems regardless of day, age, army, or even world the desire to loot the houses of the losers in war is an every present problem.

"A-TEN-TION!" I barked.

Barking out orders to soldiers like this was actually somewhat of a funny feeling for me considering I technically had no military training aside from my experience during the Stinit War, although at the moment my main concern was how unprofessional the men were acting, it was actually pissing me off because instead of acting like soldiers they were running around like common thieves and bandits, something I wasn't about to allow, at least not right now anyway. In a matter of seconds after yelling attention the soldiers in town all came running quickly lining up in rank and file.

"What... the... FUCK is going on? I turn my back for five minutes and you're all running around tearing through houses like common thieves? We're about to have The Brothers on the doorstep of our new town and do I find you preparing for the two greatest enemies of the Koopa Kingdom, do I find you helping to clean up the bodies or anything else of worth? NO! I find you looting and plundering like common criminals.

I can understand your excitement over all of this but the time for looting comes later, right now we have to make sure we don't lose our new conquest as fast as we gained it at the hands of our most hated enemy. We must... we..."

Without warning the town around me began to spin as I became so disoriented I could barely feel my own body as it hit the ground, my head was spinning, I couldn't even think straight, and the last thing I heard before everything faded to black was Roy repeatedly calling my name. An undetermined amount of time later I slowly began to regain consciousness, my surroundings had changed to that of the inside of one of the houses with me in one of the beds, I started to try to get up but quickly felt a hand against my chest push me back down along with a familiar but unexpected voice telling me to rest.

"Lud...wig, what... are you doing here?" I managed as my head was still clearing.

"When the commanding officer of a military campaign does a face plant into the pavement without warning calls get made, plus I'm putting the last pieces of this damned puzzle together about where you've been for the past six years as well as finding out why Clawdia isn't dead and where you got all these damned powers from." he said, looking down at a small digital pad he was working with.

"You got all that from me passing out in the middle of town?" I asked.

"No you passing out in the middle of town was the final piece of the puzzled that confirmed my finding."

"What findings?"

"Shortly after you left yesterday I ran some more tests on Clawdia to try and find out how she had Typhoid one minute and was cured the next, when the usual battery of tests didn't turn anything up I ran a sub-molecular tissue scan, now that really turned something up. Her tissue had been infused with trace amount of, get this, Nexus energy, remember that giant thing at the heart of the pipe network?"

"Yeah what about it."

"You're not an idiot Alex do the math, you spend six years in some place, then when you get back you've got these strange powers, Clawdia is miraculously cured of this mutant strain of Typhoid and I find traces of Nexus energy in her body."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm as serious as a heart attack Superman, your happy ass somehow ended up 'inside' the Nexus for six years, oh and by the way you didn't cure Clawdia."

"If I didn't cure her then what happened?" I asked, trying to get up only to have Ludwig push me down again telling me I was in no condition to go anywhere.

"I think I've also managed to piece together how these freakin' powers of yours work, subconsciously, they react more to what your feeling than what you're thinking since you don't try to actively control them very much."

"Get to the point brainiac."

"The point being you didn't cure the Typhoid, I think when you were holding Clawdia you somehow used these powers to absorb it into your body out of a parental desire to suffer in her place, which is exactly what you're doing because I ran some tests while you were unconscious, congratz you have a full blown case of Typhoid."

"Shit..."

"Oh it gets better, remember me telling you that magic accelerates its viral efficacy? Well with you burning through these new powers of yours like Wendy with a credit card at a 50% off sale you've sped it up... a lot. The only reason that snowy little head of your hasn't exploded yet is because you have a more developed immune system than Clawdia, plus Mortimer having survived a regular case of Typhoid passed a partial resistance on to you."

"Dad had Typhoid, when?"

"Something about a trip to South America when he was a teenager, anyway it get worse. The nexus energy inside of you is steadily building up and the more you use those powers of yours the more you accelerate that problem too."

"Problem? Isn't that good thing, means I won't run dry."

"No it means that the energy will eventually build up to the point your body can't contain it anymore and you'll probably explode, literally, kaboom. If you keep using these powers of your they'll eventually kill you if the Typhoid doesn't first."

"Great so should I just shoot myself now and get it over with?"

"No, despite Clawdia's sudden recovery I knew something was fishy about the whole thing so I had the doctors keep looking for a way to cure this damn thing and they're actually starting to make some progress. As to the nexus energy problem give me enough time I can probably find a way to solve that too."

"BROTHERS!" a voice yelled from outside.

"Looks like you just ran out of time Ludwig that's my cue." I was up and out the door before he had a chance to stop me this time.

I was struck by another wave of delirium as I stepped outside forcing me to brace myself on the door frame for a moment as I cleared my head. Quickly looking around to see where The Brothers were I finally saw them approaching from the east along with Princess Peach and a large number of Toad soldiers. With a yell the soldiers to attention, once they had fallen into line I waited for Roy and Larry to join me as Ludwig fell into line next to Roy

"Where's Larry and how long was I out?" I asked.

"Recalled, Bowser didn't feel he was experienced enough to face off against The Brothers, and about a day" Ludwig said.

I gave the order to march as I wanted the ensuing battle to take place outside of town, we had claimed the town for its value so it was important not to have it leveled by fighting with Kingdom forces. Peach was approaching flanked on either side by The Brothers, short, red, and fat to her right, tall, skinny, and green to her left, behind her were at least four hundred Toad soldiers all marching in rank and file just like the Koopa troops behind me. The two armies continued to march until we were about fifty yards apart, for a time we stood there staring one another down.

"Princess." I said.

"Lord Magnus." She replied.

Those were the only words exchanged between us before I extended my arm giving the order to attack, immediately the Koopa troops surged forward as did the Toad soldiers, in a matter of seconds they slammed into one another like a tidal wave of screams and clashing weapons. As the soldiers fought in a chaotic melee with one another the commanders all began to single one another out, Ludwig to Peach, Roy to Luigi, and I just pointed at Mario as I walked through the fighting that was taking place around us.

Mario took off at a run charging directly at me until he had almost closed the distance between us then leapt a good eight feet into the air trying to come down on top of me. I responded by channeling nexus energy through my body before giving a mental command which damn near shot me a good twenty feet above the field. Just as Mario landed where I had been standing a moment before I began to come down using the surge of energy flowing through me to create a small shock wave in the ground similar to what I had seen Roy do when capturing the handler in Rogue Port. Mario had managed to jump out of the way in time to avoid being landed on but the unexpected shock wave caused him, as well as many nearby troops both Toad and Koopa, to either stagger around or fall down altogether. With unstoppable determination I looked at Mario as I stood and began to channel energy through my arms resulting in a series of electrical arcs crackling over my uniform.

"Six years Mario, six years I've waited for this moment. You humiliated me in Rogue Port, made a mockery of everything I stood for and sent me running home with my tail between my legs but now, now things are much much different. Haven't you been curious why I disappeared all those years ago? I was training in secret, preparing myself for the next time we fought, now I'm your worst nightmare in a shell."

He responded by reaching into his pocket and pulling out a fire flower which he promptly ate causing his outfit becoming white and red, when he did it suddenly reminded me that I still had some fire flowers in my shell assuming they were still any good. Typhoid, Nexus energy overload, what the hell let's throw a little more gasoline onto the fire, in turn I reached into my shell searching for a moment I found one, which to my surprise, was still in good condition so I popped it into my mouth. The resulting surge of energy started to make me dizzy again but I fought through the sensation and began hurling Nexus charged fireballs at Mario as fast as I could.

Mario responded in kind hurling every bit as fast as I did but unlike out last little showdown my attack quickly gained ground, in fact it gained ground so fast that Mario was struck in the chest twice and knocked onto his back before he knew what was happening, he shook his head a little looking up at my as he quickly got back to his feet. Pressing my advantage I lunged at him intent on pounding his head into his shoulders though as I approach he leapt forward kicking me in the stomach hard enough to slide me backwards and force me to take a knee to keep my balance.

I tried to shake the blow off and keep going but when I moved to stand a surge of indescribable pain shot through my body, for a brief moment I saw a blinding flash of white light, when my head cleared I focused on Mario again to find him looking at with an expression of both surprise and confusion. I looked down at myself for a moment trying to figure out what was going on finding several streams of blood flowing down the front of my uniform about the same time I noticed a sharp iron taste in my mouth, wiping my mouth with my hand I looked at it seeing my hand covered in blood... I must have been sending the Typhoid into overdrive as hard as I was pushing myself.

Without care for my condition I slung the blood from my glove as I charged at Mario attacking him with a flurry of punches and kicks, at first he was on the defensive blocking each of my attacks but he eventually regained his footing fighting back as fast and furiously as I was. Neither of us was able to gain any real ground against the other, he caught me with a right hook to the jaw, I punched him square in that fat nose of his, he kicked me in the side, I head-butted him, regardless of the few attacks we managed to land against one another neither was able to follow through and inflict serious damage so I decided to up the stakes.

Channeling the fire flower energy into my arms I enhanced it with nexus energy causing my forearms to ignite with a blue flame as I continued my assault focusing on my punches and jabs. Mario continued to block my attacks but this new twist had sent him on the defensive again, a defensive that soon began to collapse as the sleeves of his outfit began to catch fire. When he tried to stumble backwards to put them out I took the opportunity to charge forward with an uppercut to the jaw before he could react. Snapping his head back hard enough to pick him up off the ground he was launched backwards into a pair of Toad soldiers who all crashed to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.

"Give up Mario... you can't... win, I'm stronger than you... could possibly... imagine." I said.

"I'lla never give up to a monster like you." Once again he made his way to his feet Mario wiping a small stream of blood from the side of his mouth with his glove.

"Monster? Oh come now Mario just because we're at war doesn't mean we can't be civil about this." I said sarcastically.

"Youa murdered innocent people who hada nothing to do with anything of this." he said.

"I was just following orders plunger breath, now put up or shut up." I replied.

Once again dropping into a battle stance we were about to charge one another again when Luigi of all people came flying between the two of us followed shortly thereafter by a charging Roy. We both quickly refocused on one another with Mario holding his hand out as he summoned a fireball about four times the size of a normal one, seems he wanted to play power games. I followed suit holding my arm out but instead of just summoning a large fireball like Mario I put my all into this one, summoning as much flower and nexus energy as I could. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the flame change from orange to blue and when I glanced over at it I noticed a nebulous molten core swirling in the center of the fireball, a fireball so large it had almost reached the side of my head giving off visible shimmers of heat.

"Tell me Mario, in all the years you've lived here fighting against Bowser have you ever summoned a fireball with an actual core to it?" I said, narrowing my eyes with a sadistic grin.

I could see Mario was getting nervous having extinguished his fireball in the face of something he knew he couldn't overcome, he was looking around for someplace to go, just as he started to dash to the side I drew my arm back and hurled the fireball at him as hard as I could. On impact the resulting explosion sent out a shock wave of such force that Mario along with several dozen troops both Koopa and Toad in about a twenty foot radius were hurled through the air in all directions like rag dolls and soon it was raining bodies. Within seconds my vision blurred as the world began to spin again forcing me to drop to my knees as I fought against the relentless urge to just pass out, shortly thereafter I coughed several more times spitting more blood onto the ground soon finding it hard to breath as my body was wracked by pain.

In a desperate move to stem what was happening I tried to suppress both the fire flower and Nexus energy that was surging through me, slowly the pain began to subside to a manageable level, my vision began to stabilize, then I stopped coughing up blood but there was a wheeze in my breathing that wouldn't stop... the Typhoid was moving into my lungs. Carefully raising my head I looked around for Mario only to find several Toad soldiers dragging his body off the battlefield, I didn't know if he was dead or not but I really didn't care, even though my body was in no condition to jump for joy my mind was, I did it, I beat THE Mario handing him his ass just like he had done to me in Rogue Port, albeit I had damn near killed myself in the process.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something bright red and when I turned to look at it I saw Mario's hat laying on the ground, I just stared at it for a moment before the words 'war trophy' went through my mind, on a whim I grabbed the hat and put it on in as a means of displaying my victory over the champion of the Mushroom Kingdom. Not only was Mario out of the picture but with a qucik survey of the battlefield I could see that despite the fact Peach had brought one hundred more soldiers than us their superior numbers didn't make up for the lack of skill or discipline... we were winning.

"WHUDOFH!" Ludwig said.

Turning to look in the direction of the whudofh I had heard I saw Peach with her back to me and Ludwig laying on the ground with a large circle burnt into the front of his shirt as wisps of smoke rose from his chest, looks like Ludwig had bitten off more than he could chew. Without even announcing myself I walked towards Peach who was raising her wand again as Ludwig tried to get up. I snatched the wand out of her hand before she did anymore casting and when she turned to look at me I latched onto her throat with my other hand picking her up off the ground as I slowly began to squeeze, not enough to strangle her, but enough to hurt as she tried in vain to pull my hand loose, kicking and coughing the whole time.

"It's over bitch you've- back off green boy!" I said, seeing Luigi moving towards me from behind Ludwig, "One more step and I'll snap her neck like a twig, if you think I'm kidding ask the former citizens of Lilliona." I looked back to Peach, "It's over you've lost, Mario is down for the count, I could kill you here and now, your soldiers are being overrun, call for a retreat and leave now while you still can." I said.

"Ret-Retreat!" she managed to say.

Some of the remaining Toad soldiers looked over at the two of us, then I heard one of them yell retreat in a loud voice, within a matter of seconds the remaining Toad soldiers were running save few a half dozen who came to the defense of the Princess to make sure we allowed her to leave safely after I had dropped her, the fighting quickly died down with the Kingdom Guard in full retreat.

"What do we do about them?" Ludwig asked nodding to the fallen Toad soldiers.

"Let them come to and leave our orders were to exterminate the people of Lilliona not everyone we countered, I don't know about you but I've had my fill of blood and death for one day. Have the soldiers collect our wounded and take them into town." I said.

"Alex wait," Ludwig said, putting his hand on my shoulder as I turned to leave, "you're in no condition to do anything, I need to run some more tests to see how far the Typhoid has progressed, you pushed yourself hard back there we still don't have a cure for this yet."

"I feel fine, I don't have Typhoid anymore, although you might want to keep working on that cure." I said.

"What?" Ludwig looked at me with a confused expression.

"Remember when you told me I subconsciously used these powers to absorb the Typhoid from Clawdia? Well I decided if I could take it from someone then on the flip-side I could give it to someone too." I said.

"Who did you give it to?" Ludwig asked.

"Peach, I transferred it to her when I had her in that choke hold. Like I said though you might want to keep working on a cure for it, now that Peach failed to take Lilliona back by force I foresee some nasty diplomacy on the horizon, having the cure on hand could give Bowser considerable leverage during negotiations." I said.

"True, but I still need to run some tests to see how much the Nexus energy has built up inside of you." he said.

I just rolled my eyes and let out a large sigh, "Don't you ever do anything besides run tests, fine lets go."


	13. Chapter XIII

The results of the tests Ludwig insisted on running showed that the nexus energy within my body was nearing critical mass as he put it, and to make things worse it had reached the point of becoming a self-sustaining reaction that was continuing to slowly build on its own. This meant that Ludwig would have to find a way to drain the energy before before I exploded, probably literally, but in the meantime I was just glad to have a little peace and quiet in light of recent events. I had managed to remove the Typhoid as a threat, at least to the Koopa, held my ground against The Brothers, plundered Peach's caravan, all and all it was turning out to be a good day.

At the moment I was sitting at the desk in Nermer's home filling out a final report for Bowser detailing the events along with everything that had taken place, I also requested a refrigerated transport to haul our goods back to the castle while making a claim to the crown, a portion of the silk, and some form of reward for the men for their admirable service, all pending Bowser's approval of course. As a last thought to prove that I had beaten Mario in combat I decided to deliver the report in an envelope that was held in Mario's hat, attaching a note that I wanted the hat back of course.

Now that The Brothers had been sent packing allowing everyone some time to rest and relax I gave them permission to start looting the possessions of the former citizen, I swear I've never seen the men tears through houses so fast in my life. In retrospect of everything we had been through, everything they had been forced to in order to secure the village I thought they deserved a little something, a way to let off some steam and celebrate a hard earned victory. From what I was told there were only three deaths during the course of the battle, one Koopa and two Toads, all unintentional this time. We had completed our task so for the time being I had to sit tight until I received further orders from Bowser himself, as much as I wanted to rush home and deliver the news myself even I knew it wasn't appropriate for the commander of a military operation to just take off.

"Go find Roy, tell him I need to see him." I said, stopping one of the soldiers cleaning the mayor's house.

Unlike all those hard assed commanders you see in the movies who always disregard the orders of medical professionals about getting some rest I wasn't too eager to die, on Ludwig's advice I decided to get some rest so that my body could start to recover from the incredible stain I had put it under lately. Roy came walking in a few minutes later and I handed him the hat with the report asking him to deliver it to Bowser for me, he just nodded, took the hat, and walked out. With Roy's departure back to the castle I informed another one of the guards that I would be upstairs getting some rest if anyone needed me before doing just that, going upstairs and resting.

Some time later that evening I awoke to find myself laying in bed, arm extended with my hand around the throat of a soldier who had come to wake me up, after releasing him and apologizing for the completely unintentional reaction he informed me that Bowser was coming in person with a trio of airships to inspect Lilliona, load our plunder for transport back to the Dark Lands, and he was landing as we spoke. The only thing I had removed for my little nap was my shell and the armor portions of my uniform so it didn't take me long to get reorganized, within a minute or so I was already down the stair and outside in the town square. Sure enough just as I exited the house Bowser's massive personal airship slowly came to a stop just outside the western edge of town flanked by who smaller ships.

Their landing was preceded by a huge cloud of dust, once they had touched down I quickly moved to Bowser's airship where a metallic ramp was being lowered and quickly stood at attention saluting as Bowser disembarked, his only response was to motion for me to follow as he walked by. Falling into step next to him I briefed him on other matters I hadn't put in the report such as burying the former citizens in a mass grave outside of town, getting rid of the Typhoid by giving it to Peach along with several other smaller matters.

"Am I correct in assuming that having failed to take the town back by force the Kingdom will try to resort to diplomatic negotiations?" I asked.

"You are, I've already dispatched a messenger to deliver terms for negotiation beginning tomorrow morning if the Kingdom wishes a cessation of hostilities, thanks to your defeat of Mario in battle we'll have a lot more to bargain with this time around." Bowser said.

"Yeah about that, from what Ludwig told me-"

"I know, your new found abilities have about run their course."

"Pretty much, I think that victory was a one trick pony, truth be told I don't know if I could defeat Mario again in an all out confrontation again."

"Perhaps but they don't know that, maintain this image during the negotiations tomorrow."

"Wait what? You want me present during the negotiations?"

"Indeed, you were the one responsible for carrying out my orders and securing our new territory so I want you present."

As we talked we walked first towards the warehouse where Bowser inspected the food stores sampling several of the items as we walked, in the back of the warehouse there was a meat freezer, which I hadn't notice during my cursory inspection due to not moving this far back. There was a Magi-koopa who had been following Bowser since he had left the airship who did a lot of writing on a clip board but I paid him little mind as I imagined he was some minor functionary. After a full inventory of the warehouse had been taken orders were given regarding what to take in what quantities and what to leave for those who would be moving here to take up residence.

The next request from Bowser was something I had been looking forward to, he wanted to see the wagons we had plundered on our way to Lilliona. Taking him to the supply unit where I had secured the wagons I unlocked the doors allowing Bowser to enter first, I also explained that we hadn't quite searched all the contents due to our time constraints when we acquired them. After elaborating the wagon we were in had the most valuable cargo of the two Bowser and I carefully inspected the contents of the remaining chests, we found rare incense, unsigned bonds worth five thousand coins (meaning we could sign them and collect), some old books written by a famous author who had been dead for over five hundred years, and some jewelry.

"So why do you want this crown and silk of all things?" Bowser asked, looking at the crown intended for Peach.

"Presents for Wendy, I wanted to have a dress made for her." I replied.

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" he said.

"I was going to buy Clawdia something before I got back home, I didn't want to ask for too much." I said, feeling a bit sheepish.

"Take the crown, the silk, and the chest of jewels as your portion of the plunder, the rest will be divided accordingly or sold off." he said, closing the case and handing the crown to me as he exited the wagon.

"Any further orders sir?" I asked, placing the crown back on the shelf before exiting.

"Return to the castle, Roy can look after things here." he said.

"What about Peach and The Brothers, what if they try to launch another attack against Lilliona?" I said.

"Though not many, there are certain rules of war both our kingdoms have agreed to observe during times of hostility, one of those rules is that when one side requests negotiations both parties cease hostile operations until said negotiations have ended." he said.

"You hold to that rule?" I asked.

"There has to be some order in the midst of all this chaos." he replied.

"Uh, considering Peach now has Typhoid how's the research on a cure coming along?" I asked.

"Mortimer is certain it's only a matter of time now before they find a way to treat this." Bowser said.

"That's good, you might want to treat all of the troops before they come home, when I first set out on this campaign I didn't know I was infected." I said.

Bowser and I were about to board his airship when I noticed some other soldiers off loading a lot of food items along with two chest that sounded as though they filled with coins all heading into the town where the troops were as the other goods were being loaded onto the second airship.

"What is all that?" I asked.

"Rewards for the troops as per your recommendation, top quality food and a dispensation of funds for their success here." he said, re-boarding the airship.

Once we were aboard the airship I noticed Mario's hat hanging off one of the handles on the airship's steering wheel which I quickly recovered and put on, I wanted Wendy to see me wearing it when we got back home.

One uneventful ride later Bowser's airship landed on the airstrip behind the castle I quickly disembarked making my way for the ship with the plunder collecting my allotted reward of the crown, silk and jewels then hauled ass into the castle, my one plan, the thing I hadn't told anyone about, not even Wendy was finally starting to come together, only a few more pieces to move into place... no one would see this coming... Dashing through the castle goods in hand I quickly made my way to my hold room to hide everything, which consisted of stuff it all under my bed before heading to the room I shared with Wendy and opened the door... no one home, crap, where were they?

Several questioned castle personnel revealed that Wendy was with Clawdia in the recreation area teaching her how to swim so I made my way down into the castle passing through several winding and twisting corridors as I went. It wasn't long before I came to small reception area with a desk against the far wall, two adjoining halls leading to the right and left, and a set of doors on either side of the desk marked as locker rooms for men and women. Behind the desk was a rather large woman who's species I almost recognized but I wasn't sure because I'd never seen anyone like her before.

"You're a... hammer brother?" I asked as I approached.

The woman looked up from filing her nails with a quirked brow, "Do I look like a brother to you? I'm a hammer sister sweet heart."

"I was beginning to wonder, you're the first I've seen." I said.

"As far as I know I'm the only one employed here at the castle, something I can help you with or you just come down here to make small talk?" she asked.

"Looking for the pool." I said.

"Left hall, second door on the right." she replied, pointing to the left hall.

Looking at the three doors in the hall I wasn't headed for I noticed they were marked, Gym, Basketball Court, and Chess Club with three more doors further down on either side of the hall, then came the one I was looking for Pool, if anything no one can say Bowser doesn't take care of his own. Turning the knob I opened the door to the pool area and walked inside, there were about twenty or so Koopa walking around, relaxing in chairs, or swimming, the pool itself was thirty feet wide and seventy or so feet long with markers on the side of the pool starting at 2 ft and ending at 20 ft. there were even some concession stands near the deep end of the pool.

Wendy was kneeling in the water wearing a pink bathing suit with Clawdia who had a matching outfit along with a pair of water wings on her arm in a section of the pool about 3 ft deep. Instead of immediately running up to them I waited seeing they hadn't noticed me yet watching them as I leaned against the door frame. I was really amazed by how loving and gentle Wendy was with Clawdia despite all her spit and fire towards everyone else, including me sometimes, she had her arms under Clawdia holding her in the water teaching her how to properly move her arms and feet in order to stay afloat.

"Daddy!" Clawdia said finally noticing me.

"Clawdia!" I said holding my arms out to the side.

Wendy turned to look at me standing as Clawdia scrambled to get out of the pool. Clawdia was the first out of the pool running over to me with her arms held out for me to pick her up, I scoped her up water wings and all, thankfully my uniform was leather otherwise I'd have gotten soaked, followed shortly thereafter by Wendy as my cheeks were being assaulted with a multitude of kisses.

"I was scawed daddy, I heawd you had to go do all sowts of fighting and stuff and I thought Mawio would getcha." she said.

"Mario get me, naaaaw, daddy got Mario see?" I said, flipping the bill of the hat on my head.

"It that the real thing?" Wendy asked.

"As real as it gets babe, right from Mario's head to mine, kicked his ass along with Luigi, that slut Peach, and all the wannabe troops she brought with her, with help from Roy and Ludwig of course." I said.

"My daddy's the toughest he can beat anybody, except for gwandpa." Clawdia said.

"True that." I remarked.

"I don't believe it, you actually beat Mario, damn babe." Wendy said.

"Wiped ou- uh," I stopped looked at Clawdia for a minute, "made all the people in Lilliona leave permanently, secured the town and all the resources, and I kept The Brothers from retaking it. Bowser's entering negotiations with the Kingdom tomorrow to seal the deal I'd imagine, Lilliona is all but ours now but that's not the best part, let's head back to our room I brought something back for you." I said.

"Did you get me anything daddy?" Clawdia asked.

"Well of course I did you think I'd forget my baby girl? You'll have to wait until tomorrow though because it hasn't gotten here yet." I said.

"Dwat." Clawdia replied.

The truth of the matter was I hadn't had the chance to get anything for Clawdia yet and all the stores were closed by now so I would have to go get something for her tomorrow... the only problem was I didn't know what kind of toy's Clawdia liked, in fact I didn't know that much about her at all, I had been so busy with everything that had been going on lately I hadn't had a chance to really get to know her, I didn't like that, that was something I would have to tend to here real soon. Once the negotiations were over I decided to take some time off to be with my family, I may have been Bowser's right hand but I wasn't going to let that keep me away from my Wendy and my daughter.

While we were walking back to our room I decided to get a head start on things by asking Clawdia a number of things I had asked Wendy as well, what was her favorite color, favorite food, her birthday since I hadn't been absent at the time of her birth, what kind of toys she liked. She informed me, purple, strawberry cheese cake, or big ass cake as mommy called it, December 3rd, and anything to do with the Koopa Sweet Heart Doll House. Wonderful, not quite six years old and already she was cursing, although I couldn't say much as I had sworn around her a few times myself.

Wendy and I put Clawdia to bed in her room once we got back to the living area since it was already getting late, there was a slight delay in my giving of gifts to Wendy as I had to read her a bedtime story, though it was a diversion I didn't mind. The book she picked actually had a striking similarity to a children's story from Earth, it was about three little Koopas and the big bad plumber that blew their house down. Boy Mario must really be on the hit-list here to make into a children's story as the villain. The next steps of getting Clawdia ready for bed consisted of getting her a drink of water, tucking her in, and turning on her night-light before turning off the main light in the room.

"Good night baby girl." I said, kissing her on the forehead.

"Night night daddy." she said.

"Good night Clawdia." Wendy said, following suit and kissing her on the forehead.

"Night night mommy." she said.

Closing the door behind me as we exited the room I walked back through our room to my old residence in order to rummage around under the bed for a moment, after a little bit of searching I found the box with the crown, smiling to myself as I made my way back to our room. Wendy was laying on the bed channel surfing, remote in one hand, candy bar in the other. The sight of the box in my hand immediately perked her curiosity, she set the remote down crawling across the bed in order to look over my shoulder.

"Before I show you this I thought you should know there was another little boon to our invasion of Lilliona, on our march there we came across a pair of transport wagons belonging to the Mushroom Trading Guild so we plundered them as well. Once we took the wagons back to camp to search them we found out that the first wagon was filled mostly with items intended for Princess Peach." I said.

"You stole Peach's stuff? That's fabulous!" she said, laughing as she spoke.

"Not as fabulous as this," I said, opening the box, "I found this while searching and thought to myself a crown this lovely only belonged one place, on the head of a real princess, your head."

Wendy's eyes widened and she gasped upon seeing the crown, then immediately took the crown out of the box and put it on her head as she stepped off the bed deciding to model it for me doing a complete turn around so I could see how she looked with it on.

"So, how do I look?" she asked.

"Hmm, the crown looked better in the box." I said.

"What?" she said, glaring at me.

"Well it's true, it looked great until you put on but how could a simple crown of gold and gems possibly compete with someone as radiant you?" I said.

Now that she realized I was complimenting her rather than insulting her as first thought she looked at me with a smirk on her face, then sauntered back to the bed sitting on my lap.

"What is it that attracts you to me the most physically?" she asked.

"Two words, bubble-butt," I said, "So what about me, what do you find so attractive about me?" I asked.

"Your eyes, I've never seen someone with purple eyes before," she said, leaning closer so that our lips almost touched, "you know, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to get into my shell, this gift, those compliments, admit it you want me."

"I confess, I'm irresistibly attracted to you and yes I used the gift and compliments to try to get into your shell, did it work?" I asked.

"Yes." she said, kissing me deeply.

"Fuck off!" was my response to a knock at the door the next morning, though I immediately regretted raising my voice as my head tried to tear itself in half.

Taking a moment to gather my senses I felt Wendy laying on top with a curtain wrapped around us, several empty liquor bottles, overturned furniture, discarded condom wrappers, and a few roaches in the ashtray from some joints I don't even remember smoking. Damn this place got tore up from the floor up last night although I don't remember much after my second fifth of whiskey.

"Wendy, babe, wake up." I said, shaking her gently.

"Die you evil bastard..." the mumbled.

"Good morning to you too." I replied.

"Sorry to bother you sir, Bowser wanted me to inform you breakfast is ready and you leave for the negotiations in one hour." the voice on the other side of the door said.

"Message received, now fuck off!" I said.

Wendy rolled off of me onto the floor with a small grunt followed by a moan as she held her head. I didn't even want to move although I didn't really have much choice in the matter, duty called. Somehow finding the willpower to move I got dressed, slid my shell on, and started to stagger through the hall in the general direction of the dining room, about ten minutes later I made it to my destination slumping down in one of the chair snot even bothering to open my eyes... I probably looked like train wreck right now but I didn't give a shit, Wendy followed a few minutes later slumping down in the chair next to me.

"What happened to you two?" Bowser Jr asked.

"Party." was my only response.

Clawdia was already at the table when we arrived well into her own breakfast but what caught my attention was the fact I could actually hear her eating, I cracked an eye open to see her sitting there eating so fast her cheeks were puffed out like a hamster.

"Clawdia you're not a pig stop eating like one." I said.

"Mef maddy." she said through a mouth full of food.

After another few minutes Wendy and I finally served ourselves and slowly began to eat breakfast while there was still some food left, the Koopa Clan rarely wasted food despite the banquet that was served at each meal. Clawdia finished her meal in record time sliding down from her chair once she was finished, then to my surprise she walked over to Bowser, crawled into his lap and starting eating off his plate, I couldn't believe what I was seeing until Bowser looked down at her for a moment then continued eating as though nothing were wrong. In all the time I had been here in the Dark Lands I had never seen Bowser let anyone so close to him before, maybe it was that cuteness cheated with so much, I was surprised by this but it evidently didn't seem too out of place to everyone else including my dad who kept eating without even taking notice.

Following some sighs, belches, and a few farts breakfast was officially over, the entire Koopa clan started to filter out of the dining hall but as I stood Bowser motioned for me to follow him. Kissing Wendy and Clawdia goodbye I followed as instructed walking with Bowser in silence as we made our way to the castle's motor pool where a long green and red stretch limo already had the engine running waiting for us. Upon our approach the driver got out, opened the door for Bowser, then walked around the back of the limo opening the door for me as well. Before getting inside I walked to one of the guard who had been assigned to guard the motor pool giving him some instructions quietly, he nodded a few times in response, then when I was finished talking to him I got into the limo.

Being around Bowser this much was actually a little unsettling for me, I really didn't know how to react around him for extended periods of time, he had never really been the type for chit-chat seemingly content to stare out the window in silence so I did the same. The Dark Lands weren't very appealing to the eye either, a cracked dry mud ground, blackened and withered trees, rivers of lava, not your usual vacation destination. When we crossed the border into the Mushroom Kingdom the landscape changed almost immediately to lush fields of green grass speckled with bright flowers of almost every color and large tree like mushrooms growing alongside actual trees.

"Why doesn't anything like this grow in the Dark Lands?" I asked.

"Volcanic activity." Bowser said.

"Dad ever find a cure for the Typhoid?" I asked.

"This morning." Bowser replied.

As usual his answers were short and to the point so I left it at that keeping in silence for the remainder of our trip. About an hour later I saw Toad Town approaching quickly in front of us with the car slowing as we approached the outskirts of town, then it came to a complete stop. There were several Mushroom Kingdom officials dressed in bright colorful robes standing outside one of the buildings who all looked in our direction upon our arrival. This time bowser didn't even wait for the driver opening the door himself to step out, I let myself out as well walking around the back to stand next to Bowser. One of the officials, a fairly old looking Toad, walked up to Bowser with a scowl on his face and sized the both of us up.

"I don't see what all the commotion is about, you don't look all that big to me." he said looking at Bowser.

What happened next was a real shock, even to me, Bowser stood upright and looked down at the official. I had never really thought about the fact he was slightly hunched over most of the time due to the curvature of his shell. The reason I was so shocked was because when he did stand up I barely came to the bottom of his ribcage with the official only coming up to his knee, hat and all, the son of a bitch had be have been a good twelve foot tall. The minister's eyes widened considerably as did mine, then after regaining his composure he started to walk away.

"F-Follow me." he said.

We were lead into a large building that looked a lot like a tavern on the inside with tables and chair spread about a large open room with a bar against the far wall and a staircase leading up to the second floor right by the entrance. Princess Peach was sitting at large round table in the center of the room flanked once again by The Brothers... so Mario survived after all, with some chairs positioned across the table for us though how Bowser was going to fit into one of them I was interested to see. When Bowser pulled one of the chairs out to sit down his hand began to glow slightly before the chair turned it into metal while simultaneously expanding in size... interesting. Mario also wasn't very happy to see me wearing his hat, nor was Luigi who walked up to me with his arms folded across his chest.

"Say Luigi, you don't happen to have an extra hat do you? Want to complete the set and all." I said.

"Upa yours." he responded.

"Up mine? Oooh, such harsh language green bean." I said.

"You'ra nothing but a killer and ifa these weren't negotiations..." he stopped short.

"You'd what, fight me? Please everyone knows you're second fiddle to Mario," which I didn't though considering how much I had heard about Mario while not hearing much about Luigi I was taking a shot in the dark, "considering what I did to your brother the other day I'd jerk a knot in your ass green boy."

"Alexander." Bowser said.

"Sorry boss." I replied.

Luigi's cheeks flushed a visible red telling me I had hit a real sore spot, well that and the fact I could hear his knuckles cracking as hard as he was tightening his fists. Because hostilities weren't allowed during negotiation, and Bowser had called me on intentionally baiting Luigi I walked over to the table taking a seat next to him. When everyone was in place a Toad official sat down at the table between us.

"This meeting has been called between the sovereign kingdoms of the Dark Lands and the Mushroom Kingdom in order to address the recent hostilities that have occurred, both parties have agreed to a cease fire for the duration of these negotiations, I hereby call this meeting to order. King Koopa, as you were the one to request these negotiations it is customary for you to present you case first, please proceed."

Bowser nodded to the official before reaching into his shell removing a manila envelope full of papers, he placed it on the table, opened it, and removed a small stack of papers, sorting through a few before settling on one which began a rather long and detailed legal rant:

Declaration

Citizens under the banner of the Northern Toad Alliance did violate the sovereign kingdom of King Bowser Koopa, ruler of the Dark Lands by means of the kidnapping of Sovereign Princess Clawdia Wendy Koopa, hereafter referred to as Princess Clawdia, grand-daughter of Sovereign Ruler King Bowser Koopa, daughter of Sovereign Princess Wendy Koopa and Lord Alexander Magnus.

Paragraph One

On the date of September 3rd members of the Northern Toad Alliance did remove Princess Clawdia from the temporary residence of King Bowser Koopa at the Mushroom Kingdom Invitational Racing Tournament by force, against her will and the will of the House of Koopa.

Paragraph Two

Following the kidnapping of Princess Clawdia the Northern Toad Alliance did knowingly and willfully infect her person with a highly contagious and lethal viral agent in an attempt to kill her, the House of Koopa, and the citizens of the Dark Lands.

Paragraph Three

Upon the successful recovery of Princess Clawdia and the discovery of the nature of her illness the House of Koopa did treat said illness but during the course of treatment Princess Clawdia expired for the duration of three minutes and thirty-four seconds during which time she was by all rights and definitions both medically and legally, dead, constituting attempted and successful murder against her person. Only through repeated attempts at resuscitation was her life successfully restored.

Evidence

The House of Koopa, along with the Monarchy of the Mushroom Kingdom in the person of Princess Peach Toadstool were witness to the aftermath of the aforementioned actions which took place at the Mushroom Kingdom Invitational Racing Tournament. All evidence of the infection, virus, death of Princess Clawdia, and all additional materials shall be provided by the House of Koopa for full and complete review by the Monarchy of the Mushroom Kingdom in totality without reservation or censorship.

Violated Laws

Dark Lands Legal Code 2905.01: Kidnapping

(A) No person, by force, threat, or deception, or, in the case of a victim under the age of thirteen or mentally incompetent, by any means, shall remove another from the place where the other person is found or restrain the liberty of the other person, for any of the following purposes:

(1) To hold for ransom, or as a shield or hostage;

(2) To facilitate the commission of any felony or flight thereafter;

(3) To terrorize, or to inflict serious physical harm on the victim or another;

(4) To engage in sexual activity, as defined in section 2907.01 of the Revised Code, with the victim against the victim's will;

(5) To hinder, impede, or obstruct a function of government, or to force any action or concession on the part of governmental authority.

(B) No person, by force, threat, or deception, or, in the case of a victim under the age of thirteen or mentally incompetent, by any means, shall knowingly do any of the following, under circumstances that create a substantial risk of serious physical harm to the victim or, in the case of a minor victim, under circumstances that either create a substantial risk of serious physical harm to the victim or cause physical harm to the victim:

(1) Remove another from the place where the other person is found;

(2) Restrain another of his liberty;

(3) Hold another in a condition of involuntary servitude.

(C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of kidnapping, a felony of the first degree. If the offender releases the victim in a safe place unharmed, kidnapping is a felony of the second degree. Regardless of the conditions of release any aforementioned action against a member of Koopa Royal Family is classified as a capitol offense punishable by death.

The Northern Toad Alliance by their actions violated Dark Lands Legal Code 2905.01, Sections: A-3, A-5, B-1, and B-2

By the commission of these actions the Northern Toad Alliance did violate the Treaty of Londis, signed, sealed, and recognized by Sovereign Ruler of the Dark Lands King Bowser Koopa and Sovereign Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom Peach Toadstool acting on behalf of Sovereign King Claudius Toadstool.

TREATY OF LONDIS (partial citation)

Part I

General Provisions

Article 1

The Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances.

Article 2

In addition to the provisions which shall be implemented in peace time, the present Convention shall apply to all cases of declared war or of any other armed conflict which may arise between two or more of the Contracting Parties, even if the state of war is not recognized by one of them.

The Convention shall also apply to all cases of partial or total occupation of the territory of a Contracting Party, even if the said occupation meets with no armed resistance.

Although one of the Powers in conflict may not be a party to the present Convention, the Powers who are parties thereto shall remain bound by it in their mutual relations. They shall furthermore be bound by the Convention in relation to the said Power, if the latter accepts and applies the provisions thereof.

Article 3

In the case of armed conflict not of an inter-kingdom character occurring in the territory of one of the Contracting Parties, each party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:

1. Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, species, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.

To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:

( a ) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;

( b ) Taking of hostages;

( c ) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;

( d ) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

The House of Koopa will recognize that we knowingly and willfully violated Article 3 sections A and D by means of the execution of members of the Northern Toad Alliance and the citizens of Lilliona providing the Monarchy of the Mushroom Kingdom recognizing on their behalf violations of Article 3, sections A, B, and C by members of the Northern Toad Alliance under the jurisdiction of the the aforementioned monarchy as stated in paragraphs one and two of the declaration.

Recognition by both parties also implies agreement that neither side shall seek negotiations, hostile action, reparations or any other form of compensation for the mutual violations of multiple sections of Article 3.

Grievances

1) The kidnapping of the person of Princess Clawdia Wendy Koopa

2) The infection of the person of Princess Clawdia Wendy Koopa with a highly contagious viral agent

3) The murder of the person of Princess Clawdia Wendy Koopa

4) The attempted bio-contamination/murder of the citizenry of the Dark Lands

Resolutions

1) Retribution against those responsible for the kidnapping of the person of Princess Clawdia Wendy Koopa in according with Dark Lands Legal Code: 3211.05: Satisfied

2) Retribution against nation responsible for the murder of Sovereign Princess Clawdia Wendy Koopa in accordance with Dark Lands Legal Code: 3211.06: Satisfied

3) The recognition of sovereign claim of the House of Koopa to the town of Lilliona: Unsatisfied

4) The recognition of sovereign claim of the House of Koopa to the land between the northern border of Lilliona and the southern border of the Dark Lands: Unsatisfied

Condition of Acceptance

If the Monarchy of the Mushroom Kingdom agrees to said terms the House of Koopa will cease any and all hostile actions against the soverign nation of the Mushroom Kingdom

Conditions of Refusal

If the Monarchy of the Mushroom Kingdom does not abide by the terms presented then House of Koopa will continue to pursue active hostilities, embargo current trades and declare war without prejudice or reserve beginning immediately following the denial of said conditions."

After that ungodly long legal blabber on the part of Bowser he slid a copy of the declaration across the table to Princess Peach along with more papers, likely the evidence he stated he would provide. Peach took the papers, thumbed through them for a moment, then placed them back on the table.

"As per the rules of negotiation I request a twelve hour recess to review and discuss this information with my ministers prior to providing our own response and/or terms." Peach said.

"Agreed." Bowser replied.

More than anything I was puzzled, mostly about why Bowser would sign something such as the Treaty of Londis in regards to the Mushroom Kingdom considering his intense dislike, or even hatred of them. I wasn't about to get into the legal nuances of things because all that legal-speak with treaties, laws, so forth and so on damn near gave me a headache, but never the less I couldn't help but ask.

"Boss, I couldn't help but notice the sections of the Treaty of Londis you cited during your declaration, if I wouldn't be overstepping my bounds may I ask why you would willingly sign something to that affect with your long standing enemies." I asked.

"When the Treaty of Londis was signed the interference of the Mario Brothers had resulted in a consider weakening of my position at the negotiating table, I wanted no part of that treaty my signing was a forced concession." Bowser replied.

"How long will it remain in effect?" I asked.

"Five more years." he replied.

With the recess called Bowser and I were directed to temporary quarters in a local inn in Toad Town to for the next twelve hours so that Princess Peach along with her ministers could review all of the information provided to them before formulating a response to Bowser's declaration. Considering the scope, magnitude, and subject matter involved I knew it was only a matter of time before the fecal matter collided with the rotary cooling device (shit hitting the fan). There was also the matter of Peach's Typhoid infection for which we held the cure, that was our ace in the hole I knew Bowser was saving as a final negotiation tactic. I also knew that the illness was already taking a toll on Peach because she not only coughed several times during Bowser's declaration, but she was also noticeably sweating. Mulling things over in my mind again and again wondering how the next round of negotiations was about all I could do for the moment.


	14. Chapter XIV

In a way I was glad there was a break in the negotiations, it gave me time to eat, shower, and get some rest before we finished handing the Mushroom kingdom their asses on a platter, I knew full well that the Princess along with her little Toad groupies would make a wide variety of demands of their own, but this time theirs was the weak position at the negotiating table and they damn well knew it. Admittedly I didn't know much about all this legal crap that was getting spewed back and forth but I did know when we had the upper-hand, and we did. I was looking forward to watching them squirm as Bowser shot down demand after demand before forcing them to concede to his, I was going to relish this.

The room itself was a single occupancy accommodation with white adobe walls design to maintain a relative temperature all year, a wood framed bed with ornate scroll work etched into the head and foot boards with simple white linen and several matching pillows resting in the north-western section of the room, next to that was a three drawer dresser of painted blue wood of unknown origin, at least to me, with a single brass lamp fitted with a simple white light shade sitting on top. Near the foot of the bed there was an old wooden trunk for storage and on old polished roll top desk centered against the southern wall. I wasn't sure why but for some reason I didn't like this room at all, maybe it was the aesthetic look that threw me, whatever the case I just wanted to leave. With only a few minutes before the talks resumed I was getting ready to head downstairs when there was a loud thudding at my door, judging from the sound it was Bowser.

"Come in." I said.

"Walk with me." Bowser said, opening the door.

I knew something was up now, when Bowser wants to 'take a walk' it's usually to discuss a matter of importance. I had no doubt it was to discuss something in regards to the negotiations that were about to resume although I couldn't imagine what, I was just an observer there to watch and learn. As we walked down the well lit hall we had used to come in upon out arrival none of the other doors that lined either side of the walls opened at our passing, in fact I even heard a few locking. The hall ended in a sharp left opening into a modest lobby with a counter stretching from the far wall all the way to the hall where we exited stopping just short of us and making a ninety degree turn ending in the wall, several wooden stools sat in front of the counter where a few customers were seated with the inn's proprietor tending to their needs. Much like the building we has come from this inn seem almost like the tavern, though it seemed more suited to tending to the overnight needs of customer rather than a place to drink and hang out. There was a small murmur of conversation which died down the moment we came into view with everyone just staring at us as we headed for the door blatantly ignoring them.

It was well past evening by the time we left the inn, so late in fact that the vast majority of the inhabitants of the town had turned in for the night leaving only a few isolated lights scattered about. The stars were shining in the night sky light little diamonds in an ocean of darkness casting their light upon the darkened streets, though it was the moon that caught my attention, not so much because of any interesting features on its surface, what I interesting about it was the fact it had to have been almost three times larger than the moon of Earth meaning it held a much tighter orbit around Mushroom World. The only sound I heard outside was the soft rustle of trees as a gentle wind passed through them, after the chaos, bloodshed, violence, and other recent activities of late the silence was almost alien to me, I was half expecting to hear someone scream, have something explode, or some other odd event to happen, but the silence remained unbroken.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked.

"One of the reasons I agreed to the recess earlier was to give the Typhoid more time to work its way into Peach's system, when we return to the negotiating table I suspect she'll be in much worse condition than she was this afternoon. After they present their grievances and terms for resolution most of them will either be rejected or only marginally agreed to for considerably less than they ask. Undoubtedly when I stonewall their demands things will break down and they will likely threaten to terminate negotiations, or continue their conflict over ownership of Lilliona.

The lynch pin in these negotiations will be the cure to the Typhoid that your father discovered because the one thing I intentionally left out of the documents I gave to the Princess was the means by which to synthesize the antidote. When the time comes to discuss this matter I want you to describe in painstaking detail, due to your first hand experience, exactly what the this will do to Princess Peach. I not only want them to know that she will die without it, but also how much she will suffer before hand."

"I can handle that, but uh, didn't that bit about revealing all evidence about the Typhoid and such mean you had to tell them about the cure?" I asked.

"No, technological and medical discoveries are considered a matter of kingdom security, the rules of negotiation do not require their release. That would be akin to me giving Princess Peach a copy of the blue prints to my airship." He said.

I had a feeling things would come down to this, the health of Princess Peach was a matter of paramount importance to the Mushroom Kingdom and they would do anything to ensure her safety, including conceding to our demands. We walked in silence the rest of the way back to the negotiations, though when we entered even I was was quite surprised by what greeted us, it wasn't a princess in poor health, there was no princess to be seen at all. In her place sat an elderly toad with a white mustache, yellow tinted hat with brown spots and a pair of small glasses on his nose, had Peach's symptoms really progressed this fast? Once again The Brothers flanked the representative of the Mushroom Kingdom but this time their expression wasn't of stone faced toughness, it was worry and concern.

"Minister Toadsworth," Bowser said as we retook out seats, "where is Princess Peach?"

"Unfortunately the princess has fallen ill and will be unable to continue, I will be representing the Mushroom Kingdom for the remainder of these negotiations." he said.

"Very well, present your terms." Bowser said.

"In the interest of speeding these proceeding along I will forgo the lengthy process of citing the various laws and statutes of the Mushroom Kingdom as I know you are well aware them and get right down to the heart of things. When these hostilities began with the kidnapping of Princess Clawdia at the games you stated that we would have three days to return her to you safely. You didn't even wait a day before launching an unauthorized investigation of your own outside of your jurisdiction, in accordance with your orders attacks were launched against Cape Boomer, Rogue Port, Deep Woods, and Lilliona.

Lord Magnus incited acts of terror in Rogue Port, Deep Woods, and Lilliona resulting in widespread panic, civil unrest, and during these acts of aggression the lives of eighty-six Mushroom Kingdom citizen were lost. There is also the matter of the two wagons plundered while on their way to the castle, as no formal declaration of war had been issued by the House of Koopa those wagons were not war plunder, they were stolen. King Koopa I realize that we have had our differences in the past but the level of violence and disregard for life that you have shown recently is excessive even for you, before we go any further I want an explanation." he said.

"The explanation is that subjects of your kingdom laid hand upon my grand-daughter with the intent of ending her life as well as that of all the citizens of the Dark Lands. We have had our differences in the past but never before have any of your people ever attempted such an unprecedented act of violence against my house or my people, the House of Koopa takes attempted genocide very seriously, in light of that be glad only eighty-six lives were lost. By all rights I could end these negotiations right now and declare open war against the Mushroom Kingdom for this.

The monarchy claims to be doing their best to curtail the activities of the Northern Toad Alliance and yet I have seen little to no change in their acts of violence for years, within two days of the rescue operation to recover Princess Clawdia my operatives discovered two cells, a full scale research facility under their control, and did more damage to them than you have since their formation. Your 'investigations' have been inept and ineffective, I will use any means at my disposal to ensure the safety of my house and my people even if that means violating your laws. The Alliance is the reason for my excessive violence, equal response against those who have attacked me, you want things to slow down then do your job, end the alliance once and for all. Now state your demands." he said.

"Very well, our response is as follows:

1) Claim of Sovereignty to Lilliona and the Northern Lands

The monarchy will not recognize any claim to land occupied without a formal declaration of war or cede any lands taken through unsanctioned hostiles. We demand the immediate withdrawal of all troops and any other forces that stationed there as well as the return of any goods, coin, or other items from the town.

2) The attacks upon the Mushroom Kingdom by the House of Koopa

In response to the attacks against Cape Boomer, Rogue Port, Deep Woods, and Lilliona the monarchy demands full compensation for any and all damages caused to our towns and the surrounding lands as determined by a Mushroom Kingdom assessor with an additional twenty percent added to the final total for pain and suffering.

3) The acts of Terrorism by Lord Alexander Magnus

The monarchy hereby demands a public apology for all acts followed by a retraction of the treat to kill one hundred Mushroom Kingdom citizens for every attack against a Koopa by the Northern Toad Alliance

4) The Murders of Eighty-Six Mushroom Kingdom Citizens

Though carried out upon your order King Koopa it was Alexander himself that lead the attacks in all instances costing the lives of our people. No amount of goods or coin can ever replace the lives that have been lost in recent times therefore we demand the immediate surrender of Lord Magnus for the arrest and trial of these eighty-six murders.

5) The Stolen Wagon

Because the wagons were taken without a formal declaration of war they do not constitute war plunder and we demand their immediate return or payment equal to the value of the items taken." Toadsworth said.

Although I was well aware of the fact that Bowser wouldn't allow me to be arrested when their fourth demand was read my first impulse was an immense desire to reach across the table and backhand this little midget out of his chair, which I didn't of course, though I was still surprised by the audacity of their demands considering their position, it was as if they had ignored everything we had said acting like they were the ones in control there.

"First of all minister you will recognize our territorial claims as stated, second the damages incurred to you towns during my operations will be assessed by an agent under my command after which at a later date you will be paid a percentage of my choosing. Third I will retract the threat of retaliation made by Lord Magnus but I will not order him to apologize for acting in a manner he felt was justified to ensure the continued safety of the Koopa people, forth Lord Magnus will not be surrendered in any way, shape, or form to the Mushroom Kingdom authorities to be tried on any charges, in light of the attempted genocide committed against my people his actions were justified. Fifth as to the contents of the wagons assessment and any payment will follow the procedure I outlined according to your second demand." Bowser said.

"This is completely and totally unacceptable, I see trying to negotiate with you in a civilized manner was a fool's errand, if that is your answer then we have nothing else to discuss." Toadsworth said.

With that Bowser nodded to me letting me know it was time to let the other shoe drop.

"Tell me something Minister Toadsworth, this illness that has befallen Princess Peach, it wouldn't happen to involve nausea, vomiting, delirium, and bleeding from the mouth and nose among other things would it?" I asked.

There was a long moment of silence followed by exchanged glances before he answered, "How did you know that?" he said.

"Don't play the part of the fool Minister, after the evidence we gave you about the Typhoid we both know she's infected, tell me have you tried to cure her with magic yet? It's failed hasn't it, not only has it failed things have gotten even worse, her symptoms are accelerating." I said.

"You had something to do with this didn't you?" Toadsworth growled.

"In a round about way yes, the princess probably got it from me at the battle of Lilliona, you see at the time I didn't know I was infected." I said, even though it was a flat out lie.

"How could you not know, your daughter had the same illness as you!" he shot back.

"Because one, she never began bleeding from the nose and mouth, and two, by the time we rescued her she was in such poor health it was hard to tell what the hell was wrong with her. You see minister there are several other factors to consider here as well, at the time I was fighting with Mario I thought what was happening to me was the result of pushing myself too hard when using my new 'abilities' not because of some sort of illness. There are number of things you should know about what this is capable of so I'm just going to lay it on the line for you.

This strain of Typhoid engineered by the Alliance isn't just magic resistant, every time it's exposed to magic it gets stronger, it infects its victims faster, and does a lot more damage. If Mario told you anything about our last confrontation then you'd know the Typhoid was exposed to more magic at that point than it normally would be in years. Second, unlike normal Typhoid which people have been known to survive, I can promise you Princess Peach will not. Third, it's highly contagious, by now most of the people around the princess have probably been infected which means within the next few hours they'll begin showing the first signs of the illness as well if they haven't already.

I know you're close to the princess Toadsworth, as are you Mario," I said, looking at him for a moment, "Right now I would imagine right now she's laying in her bed in the castle crying because she's in more pain now than she's ever been in her entire life and it's only going to get worse. Before long she's going to start coughing up blood every time she opens her mouth, her body will be wracked with so much pain she'll beg for death, she'll die agonizingly slowly drowning in her own blood, and there won't be a thing you can do except sit there and watch." I said.

I could see by the look in his eyes that it was now Toadsworth who was resisting the urge to leap across the table at me, Mario on the other hand I could see was thinking about what I said and it was hitting him as hard as it would hit me to lose Wendy, it was a well known fact that Mario and Peach were an item. There was a long moment of silence before Toadsworth finally spoke up.

"You have the cure don't you?" he asked in a cold tone.

"Yes we do," Bowser said, "We not only have the cure, I have a vial with me right now as well as the information on how to mass synthesize it."

"I find it rather convenient that Peach suddenly came down with an illness just as these negotiations started, then you come in here making outrageous demands just happening to have a cure on hand, tell me, how did you manage to find this cure so fast?" Toadsworth said.

"My father Mortimer, he has more certificates, degrees, and accreditation in genetics and biology than you have fingers and toes Toadsy, plus he survived a case of Typhoid as a teenager so he's intimately familiar with this disease, how it works, and how to stop it. He was literally in the right place at the right time, though you may see this as suspicious the fact of the matter is if not for my father right now this Typhoid would be a plague ravaging both kingdoms." I said.

"What about the Alliance, I doubt they'd release something like this without having a cure for it on hand to stop the spread within the Mushroom Kingdom." he replied.

"You're probably right I wouldn't doubt they do have a cure for it, but neither of us knows how to contact them and right now it's not ravaging the Mushroom Kingdom it's killing Princess Peach, I can promise you will only be a matter of hours before she goes from a lovely woman to a lovely corpse so if you want to try and locate the Alliance and ask them for the cure by all means go ahead." I said.

"Never in all my life have I ever said something like this, but if I find out that you intentionally infected Peach with this, it is you that will receive a declaration of war from us." Toadsworth said.

Despite Ludwig's warning about the further use of my powers I used just a touch of nexus energy to change my eyes from purple to red and lower my voice several levels, "You wouldn't survive a war against us."

"I will... concede to your demands King Koopa," Toadsworth said after a long pause, "have the appropriate papers filled out and I'll sign them... I can't believe it's come to this." he said shaking his head, "now please give me the cure."

Now that our demands had been met and Toadsworth had conceded to the demands set forth by Bowser he reached into his shell taking out a small white envelope along with a vial of thick blue liquid and set them on the table. Toadsworth took them handing them to one of the other officials while instructing him to hurry to the castle. Seeing the look of utter defeat, devastation, and loss on the faces of not only Toadsworth but The Brothers as well made me want to light up cigar as I kicked my feet up on the table to celebrate our victory, but I decided to settle for leaning back in my chair with a smirk on my face. We had accomplished everything we had set out to do and more, The Brothers had been defeated, Lilliona was ours, we walked away with pretty much exactly what Bowser had planned on likely making this one of the largest victories ever scored against the Kingdom... the final piece of my plan had finally fallen into place.

Within an hour everything was finalized by Toadsworth along with the other officials at the negotiations just as word reached everyone that Princess Peach's symptoms had already started to subside and she was sleeping soundly, seems she would live to see another day after all. Victory in hand Bowser and I concluded the meeting so we could return home to prepare Lilliona, or Kooparia as he had decided to rename it, for settlement by the Koopa people.

When the news was broken back at the castle about the Mushroom Kingdom formally ceding Lilliona to the Dark Lands it was an understatement to say that people started celebrating, music was blasting all over the place, wine and champagne flowed freely, and I even saw a few turtles running through the halls without their shells on. It was a time for singing, dancing, and rejoicing, yet my mind was a million miles away, my heart was pounding in my chest, my hands were starting to shake, and my nerves were on end, it wasn't long now. As usual Bowser didn't partake of the festivities instead walking along the castle walls until he reached his favorite spot where he would stare out across the land in deep contemplation.

I avoided Wendy and Clawdia intentionally using some of the lesser traveled halls of the castle to make my way out into the courtyard where I could see Bowser's massive shelled form. I had never been as nervous as I was now in my entire, everything I had been planning until now hinged on this one last move, if I screwed this up everything could very well fall apart around me ... I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle the fallout if that happened. With one last deep breath I made my way up the stone stairs leading to the top of the wall where Bowser was standing, instead of saying anything I folded my hands in front of me looking out over the land as well. For a time there was nothing but silence save for the sound of the celebration in full swing some distance below us.

"I thought you would be celebrating with Wendy and Clawdia." Bowser said finally.

"I will later, right now I need to talk with you." I said, he didn't respond but I knew by now he was waiting for me to continue, "Have I served you well in my time here your majesty?"

"Yes." he said.

"Have I not carried out your every order with all due diligence and haste?" I asked.

Bowser actually chuckled slightly as a small wisp of smoke rose from his nostrils, "Undoubtedly, you have proven to be quite the surprise Alexander, truth be told at first I didn't expect you to last more than a week here."

"Then why did you recruit me?" I asked, this last statement perking my curiosity.

"It was intended as a PR stunt to intimidate the Mushroom Kingdom, they have Mario helping them so I thought having a human under my command could be useful as well for as long as you survived, but I sense that you didn't come up here just for a performance review, speak your mind." he said.

My knees were almost trembling as I walked closer to him, then... I began speaking in hushed tones to make sure we weren't overheard. When I had finished Bowser just stood there looking at me with a blank expression on his face, I couldn't tell if he was going to agree or turn me into a piece of charcoal, for a brief moment I realized he was actually shocked by what I had said.

"Are you sure this is what you want Alexander? If you decide to go down this path it is one from which you can never return, and one for which your life will never be the same you realize that do you not?" Bowser said.

This is something I had thought over in my mind time and time again ever since I had come back to the Dark Lands, it wasn't a decision made on the spur of the moment or as the result of some fanciful whim, I had had the time to think this over carefully in very exacting detail, my mind was made up.

"Yes I realize that and yes I want to go through with this." I said.

"Very well, follow me." he said, turning to walk down the stairs.

Follow him, where? As far as I knew my request didn't require any following but considering the magnitude of what I had asked I wasn't about to say no. We walked through the courtyard into the castle's interior making our way through the winding maze of hallways leaving me wondering about our destination, if I didn't know any better I could swear Bowser was nervous. He didn't say anything to me but he kept clenching and unclenching his fists as we walked, the King of the Koopas being nervous most definitely made me wonder what he was up to now. When we stopped I found my standing before a massive pair of wooden doors bound by iron that had to have been a good twenty feet tall when it hit me this was the one place in the castle I had never been and dared not go without permission, Bowser's room.

With no effort he pushed one of the massive doors open motioning for me to follow as he walked inside. Bowsers's room was, as one would expect, the largest in the castle, but considering how poorly lit it was I couldn't see very much despite the fact it didn't appear to hinder him at all. The massive bed centered against the far wall was easy enough to spot being the largest black shape in here, I wasn't sure but I think there were some bookshelves in the back, and a few other things I couldn't readily identify. Bowser was over by the dresser near the bed looking through the top drawer for something so I waited patiently until he returned, when he came back towards the door allowing me to see him by the light of the hall he was holding something in the palm of his hand. For a long time he looked down at it but I couldn't understand why until he unclenched his fist and I saw what he was holding, I couldn't believe my eyes. I had only ever seen Bowser holding this once before and the moment he noticed me he quickly put it away.

"This has been in my family for the past thirteen generations, it holds more value to me than I think you could every truly understand, at least right now, but I want you to have this." he said.

I was speechless, dumbfounded, I just stood there gawking like an idiot until I was finally able to regain my composure to take it from his hand as though it had been made of glass which might break if I held it too hard. Simply agreeing with me was the most I hoped hoped for when I made my request of Bowser but this, this was beyond anything I ever could have imagined... when Wendy saw this...

The only thing I could manage at first was a slow shuffle down the hall thinking over what I was about to do, Bowser was right, my life would never be the same and this wasn't something I could ever walk away from, yet I knew it was something I would never want to. My hopes, dreams, aspirations, and goals, were all held here in a palm of my hand. My nervousness was soon replaced by the determination that had brought me to this point in my life, I had earned this with my blood, sweat, tears, I had almost died, I had conquered, and I had served, all for this.

The entire Koopa Clan was in the main banquet hall doing there level best to tear it to the ground with their celebration when I walked into the room, even my father was getting in on the fun to my surprise. I focused all of my attention on Wendy who was laughing and joking with Larry at the moment, my nerves had turned to jello again as I walked towards her, it didn't help much when Bowser walked in behind me calling for silence, yeah focus all the attention on me, make it that much easier... thanks. I did my best to steel my nerves as best I could though I could tell from the look on Wendy's face that it wasn't working, she knew something was up.

"Wendy," I said, coming close to her while moving my hand back so she couldn't see what I was holding, "you know that I love you don't you?"

"Yeah..." she said, arching a brow suspiciously.

"When I first came to the Dark Lands six years ago accepting the job offered to me by your father my goals were motivated purely by personal ambition, I wanted the wealth and power that he was offering me but... in accepting my place here I discovered something far more valuable than any money or authority could give me, I found you, then I fell in love with you. When I fought against the Stinits it wasn't to promote my position, gain money, or any other self-centered desire, it was to protect that which I had come to care about and hold dear you my heart, you.

After I came back from the Nexus to discover I had a daughter I thought my life couldn't possibly get any better, I had everything I could have ever dreamed of, I had you, my father, and my daughter, for the first time in my life I had the only thing I had ever truly wanted, a family, yet the picture isn't quite complete yet there's one last piece missing. Even though I was snatched away from here during at the end of the Stinit War having only known you for a short time I don't regret a single minute of it, if it was the only way I could spend time with you I would fight that war again a hundred times over."

It was now or never... getting down on one knee I held the hand I had been hiding forward opening the little box in my hand.

"Princess Wendy Koopa, will you marry me?" I said.

I don't think I could even begin to describe the look on her face as she stared down at me, the silence that had fallen over the room could be cut with a chainsaw, the only sound to be heard being that of the spoon that had just fallen out of Morton's mouth hitting the floor. Tears began to swell up in her eyes as she looked at the ring, then to to her father, and back to me again.

"That...That's momma's ring," she said, I still wasn't sure how she'd react then slowly she began to nod before finally answering with a simple, "yes."

As carefully as I had accepted it from Bowser I took the ring in one hand setting the box down on the floor next to me, then carefully lifting Wendy's left hand in mine I slid the ring onto her finger as the room around us exploded into an almost deafening cheer. I couldn't describe the look on Wendy's face when I proposed, now I couldn't describe what I was feeling when I took my fiancee in my arms sealing our engagement with a passionate kiss.

The End?... I wouldn't count on it.


End file.
